nothin TK2 On Parks’ Future, Uncut | New Haven Independent

TK2 On Parks’ Future, Uncut

How about Donald Trump Hammonassett Beach State Park?

State Sen. Ted Kennedy’s not advancing that idea for rescuing and shoring up the long-term budgets of Connecticut’s state parks.

But pretty much everything else is on the table.

Paul Bass Photo

Kennedy, who co-chairs the legislature’s Environment Committee, talked about the need to find new revenue streams at the state’s parks, after completing an appearance Tuesday morning on WNHH radio’s Legal Eagle” program.

He was greeted on his way out of the studio by weathercaster Matt Scott (pictured above) and a cameraman from Fox 61. They’d heard Kennedy on WNHH, then showed up to interview him about the parks. Click on the video at the top of this story to watch the whole interview — including outtakes and the banter before and after. Scott said the edited version was scheduled to air on the 4 p.m. newscast.

Our state parks are in a crisis. Anyone who’s come to a state park in the last several years knows that we need to increase funding, we need to develop more resources. They’re an incredible asset that we have. However they are constantly on the chopping block when we get to the budget season,” Kennedy said.

This past legislative session, the General Assembly managed to restore all but $100,000 of a $2 million cut that the governor proposed for the parks’ $13 million budget. We didn’t even have a budget for toilet paper at our state parks” before the money was restored, Kennedy said.

He said the parks need new revenue sources moving forward to avoid annual fights like that, Kennedy said. He noted that Connecticut, unlike most other states, funds its parks completely through general-fund revenues. Even the fees parks bring in — which equal 40 percent of the cost of running the parks — go to the general fund, he said.

Kennedy said his committee is committed to considering pretty much all ideas this year, including ones he doesn’t personally support, such as giving corporations naming rights or selling premium parking spaces.

Ideas he has heard include licensing concessions, whether to rent kayaks and canoes or to sell coffee. I’m not saying we should or shouldn’t” have a Starbucks, he said, but how much would Starbucks pay to have a store at Hammonasset?”

The senator introduced one proposal last year, to tax single-use plastic bags five cents, then dedicate some of that revenue for parks. He also noted that no 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporations exist to enable philanthropic donors to give money to specific parks.

The legislature has commissioned a study by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection of ideas vendors have for doing business with the parks. The results of that report are due next month, Kennedy said, and that will help start the conversation.

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