Opinion: State park fee is just a scam
By Patrick Dorinson
We all love our parks, but parks aren’t really what this initiative is about.
This is about ballot-box budgeting, plain and simple, which allows Sacramento lawmakers to continue the fiscal shell game they are playing with voters. It tests us to see just how far they can go before we cry “uncle.”
Proposition 21 is an illustration of all that is so wrong with Sacramento “politics as usual” by allowing legislators to engage in budgetary sleight of hand, diverting all of the state’s current budget allocation away from parks, and use it for entirely different purposes.
You thought Prop. 21 would add money to the general fund parks budget? Think again. Instead of adding to the parks budget, this measure is likely to have the effect of taking away the general government revenue from parks.
The vehicle tax will become the main funding source for state parks, which eventually could end up as a budget reduction.
Patrick Dorinson is a political communications strategist and commentator in Sacramento.