'Opt-in' parks fee proposal in trouble

A bill that would require Montanans to “opt-in” rather than “opt-out” of paying a fee to support state parks when they register their vehicles has been referred back to a committee and probably won’t make it the floor of Senate, one of the bill’s co-sponsors said Friday.

Senate Bill 13 passed the Senate Finance and Claims Committee on an 11-7 vote on Tuesday, but it was referred back to the committee because it was amended to change the current annual fee of $4 to $25, requiring a new fiscal note, said Sen. Jon Sonju, R-Kalispell.

Sonju said it didn’t appear the bill would get a floor vote before a Feb. 24 transmittal deadline. And even though he is a co-sponsor of the bill, Sonju said he could not support the bill with the $25 fee because funding for state parks would evaporate.

“We were going to look at other ways to fund the parks,” said Sonju, who sits on the finance committee. “I won’t support it unless we have another funding solution.”

The bill, sponsored by Sen. John Brenden, R-Scobey, would put an end to a system that has been in place since 2004, where people must elect not to pay the $4 fee during the registration process. Because a high percentage of people do not make that selection, the fee has become the main funding source for maintaining state parks. 

Critics of the bill say that other states that tried a system where people must actively choose to pay the fee during registration have produced single-digit percentages for participation.

“The state of Washington had opt-in and they saw not more than a 3 percent participation rate,” said Flathead Wildlife Inc. President Chuck Hunt in an e-mail blast aimed at drumming up opposition to the bill. “They have since converted to an opt-out like our system is now, and their system is healthier for it.”

Sonju said he has been receiving correspondence from a lot of people and groups raising concerns about the bill.

He said the reason he originally supported it is that “there are a lot of people who are paying the $4 fee and they don’t know they are paying the fee and I don’t think that’s right... I fully support the state parks. There can be a better way to fund the parks than having people paying a fee they don’t know they are paying.”

But with the bill now calling for a $25 fee, Sonju is convinced few would participate.

The bill’s fiscal note states that changing to an opt-in system would result in a loss of $1.4 million in state park revenue the first year, and $2.6 million over the two subsequent years.

Currently, $3.50 of each $4 collected goes to state parks, while 25 cents goes to fishing access sites and 25 cents goes to the state’s Virginia City and Nevada City historic sites.

Dave Landstrom, the Region One parks manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said the fee system has provided a boost in maintenance at the popular and numerous state parks in Northwest Montana.

“We did a lot of big projects that were maintenance oriented with those dollars,” he said, citing as an example a project that involved a new boat ramp, paving and expanded parking and overall campground improvements at West Shore State Park on Flathead Lake.

The funding also allowed the state to have more maintenance people at state parks.

And since 2004, resident use at state parks has increased by 69 percent, a trend that definitely holds true at Northwest Montana’s state parks, Landstrom said.

“That to me means it’s a lot easier and a lot more affordable,” he said. “It’s a way better deal. The annual pass to state parks used to be $24.”

And it has proven to be much more convenient than collecting daily entry fees, as was the case before 2004.

“We spent all  of our time chasing people (to collect daily fees), and it was no fun for them or for us,” Landstrom said.

Because of the high participation rate with the opt-out $4 fee, “we’re 90 percent sure that when a vehicle comes in with a Montana plate that the people have paid that fee,” Landstrom said.