There are 38 state parks in Oklahoma.
These parks are a great resource for Oklahomans, but they are badly in need of repair. These maintenance and repair concerns have been building for a number of years. This problem has generally been kicked down the road.
Oklahoma’s state parks are funded through a combination of legislative allocations and fees, cabin rentals, etc. In 2016, the Oklahoma legislature placed a cap on itself in regard to the amount it could allocate to the Oklahoma Department of tourism and recreation. This cap was set at just over $10 million annually. This severely strained our parks maintenance budget even further than it was.
In 2020 the parks instituted parking fees in order to make up for the shortfall caused by the 2016 budget cap. The fees have not kept pace and have placed an added expense to Oklahoma park users.
The deferred maintenance has now reached more than 300 million dollars.
Since 2020, Oklahoma has accumulated a budget surplus that has now exceeded 4 billion dollars for several years. This large surplus should have prompted removing the 2016 cap several years ago. It is still there and our state parks are hurting. It will probably be next session before we find out if our lawmakers will consider removing the allocation cap.
In 2024, the Oklahoma legislative majority were given the opportunity to address the problem in a real way. They chose to take a pass.
Here is what happened. With the large budget surplus becoming larger, the Department of Tourism and Recreation came to the legislature with a comprehensive 8 year plan to completely fix the crumbling infrastructure of our state parks. These were not country club level renovations. But they would make our parks safer and much more appealing to regular Oklahomans and to tourism. The legislature rejected this plan and opted for a 35 million dollar “bandaid” approach, which is 10% of what the department showed was necessary to complete the renovations. If our lawmakers had acted when the plan was originally proposed, our state parks would be 2 years into a major update (and the parking fees would be gone).
I do not think it is wise to live in the “what if’s” of the past. We can’t change any of it. But we can learn and move forward.
Band aid approaches in government waste time and public resources, especially if you have the money available to do it right.
Statistics show that Oklahoma resident visitors to our state parks are mostly from the 44-45 age group with moderate to middle income and children in the home. This is a typical Oklahoma working family demographic. We have a responsibility to assure that our state parks are as affordable, appealing and accessible as possible for families and all Oklahomans who want to take advantage of our resources. And, they can be an attractive destination for out-of-state guests to spend their money.
This delay in a prudent response has created another cause for concern.
Recently Oklahoma lawmakers were invited to listen to an interim study on funding Oklahoma’s state parks.
One small paragraph near the end of the description gives me pause. It states, “The study also will explore sustainable funding options, as well as the potential impacts of privatization, leasing and alternative operational models on recreation, public access and state revenues.”
The seemingly constant push for privatization has caused logistical and effectiveness problems for state agencies and many rural Oklahomans. I truly hope I am wrong, but I am concerned that privatization of our state parks is already on the mind of some in our state government.
In a world that has become far too complicated, our state government needs to look for ways to simplify where we can.
And one other reminder – The 4 billion dollars that has been building and sitting in Oklahoma government accounts was provided by taxpayers. This figure does not even include the 275 million dollars we are now using to subsidize private schools each year. This 275 million could almost pay for the entire state park renovation…IN ONE YEAR!
Lawmakers must always be good stewards. Yet, public education is near the bottom in funding and our state parks have struggled to keep pace with necessary improvements. Not to mention, there are also some basic resources for many Oklahomans that have been cut as well. Stewardship of public money means effectiveness and balance that assures our state government works for all Oklahomans.
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