Even in the face of declining tax revenue, state government must continue the progress at DCR
The state tax revenue picture continues to look grim, especially as far as the sales tax is concerned, showing several months of unanticipated declining revenue. So it comes as no surprise that the Healey-Driscoll Administration, mandated by law to avoid deficit spending, has invoked its authority, commonly called 9C, to make mid-year budget corrections.
Mass Parks for All (MPA) is grateful that the Healey-Driscoll Administration essentially held the state Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) harmless in this exercise. The only cuts to DCR budget line items came in the Special Projects (2810-0122) earmarks account, projects legislators place in the annual budget. The cut was 50 percent of earmarks to projects, and only affect projects that are not on DCR properties. The total cut to these projects is $722,500. While we would have preferred no cuts to any open space projects, this represents an acceptable compromise.
Looking forward to FY25, which starts July 1, holding DCR harmless will not be enough to continue the budget recovery progress the agency has made over the last three fiscal years, culminating in FY24’s $20 million increase in the Parks and Recreation Operations account (2810-0100), the largest increase ever for that account. However, the increase, double what DCR got from FY23-FY24, was tempered by the Administration’s housekeeping $14 million transfer in salaries from a capital account to the Operations account. In the wake of recession driven massive cuts, paying some salaries from capital funds was the only way to keep essential people on board. FY24 was the first time the agency had enough of an increase in the Operations account to move those positions back to the preferred way to pay for them.
DCR is using the rest of the Operations increase to bolster the agency’s year-round ability to maintain public safety, staff properties, protect a vast array of natural and cultural resources, and care for public infrastructure. Language within the Operations account increased DCR’s full-time position cap by 63, from 1,004 to 1,067 positions. The agency is filling those positions on an ongoing basis. About 40 percent of those positions are dedicated to park operations, while the rest are spread throughout the agency to support conservation and recreation.
As we anticipate the governor sending the proposed FY25 budget, commonly called H.1, to the House of Representatives, MPA is once again calling for a minimum $10 million increase in the Operations account. This is consistent with the position we established in the run-up to the December 2021 release of the Legislative Special Commission on DCR’s final report, when we argued that this sizeable increase is needed each year for at least a decade.
The figure is based on more than a decade of substandard DCR funding following the 2008 Great Recession, when DCR lost about a third of its budget and 300 positions while accumulating a $1.0 billion deferred maintenance backlog. This neglect saw Massachusetts fall to last among all states in per capita tax dollars spent on public open space.
Over the past three years, DCR has made great progress refilling some of those lost positions, including converting some long-term seasonal employees to full-time. Furthermore, the Healey-Driscoll Administration has committed $100 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for various DCR capital projects, which will help DCR make meaningful progress toward reducing the deferred maintenance backlog. This includes $24 million for trail improvements, $25 million to remove decrepit, unsafe dams and restore the natural ecosystems around them, and $28 million to restore the Amelia Earhart dam on the Mystic River and related work.
In addition, the DCR Stewardship Council, for the second year in a row, has weighed in on the budget with the state Executive Office of Administration & Finance to set out DCR priorities as the budget is being created. This is a departure from the past practice of merely reacting to whatever the governor proposes via H.1.
The pandemic proved beyond all doubt that our public open spaces are not just nice to have assets, but need to have assets. Parks are essential to public health and a critical resource for environmental justice communities. They also serve to mitigate the effects of climate change, which are becoming more evident as each year’s average temperature tops the previous year, and each year’s extreme weather eclipses the last.
As we move forward, we need all of you to help us support DCR through the budget process so the agency can continue its current progress toward creating the 21st Century park system we all deserve, and that our environment depends upon.
Doug Pizzi is executive director of Mass Parks for All