Massachusetts State Reorganization

More Work, Less Money

Environmental Advocates See Yet Another Drop in State Environmental Spending for FY 2004

By CRWA Parklands Advocate Kate Bowditch

As Kathy Abbott takes over the reins of the new Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), her department will have enormous financial challenges as well as organizational ones. According to analyses done by the Environmental League of Massachusetts (ELM), DCR's total budget this year is down 6% from last year, and 23% from 2002 (using the combined budgets of DEM and MDC for comparison, since DCR did not exist last year). As we go to press, advocates hope to ward off more cuts for next year's budget. Expectations are that capital spending, paid for through state bonds, will be down significantly.

How can the state's park and recreational systems be improved with such enormous cuts continuing? Our state already spends a smaller percentage of our budget on our parks than most states, and many of our parks and recreational facilities are in dire need of capital improvements. Kathy Abbott's efforts to improve efficiencies, form partnerships, and set priorities will help, but the reality is that we need more money for our parks. For CRWA and the rest of the environmental community, this is a serious and long term issue.

Parks are not the only place environmental spending is down. ELM's work shows this year's total environmental spending budget of $166,596,560 is down 5% from last year and down 21% from 2002. The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) budget is down 5% from last year, and 19% from 2002. DEP's staff, as a result of cuts, early retirements and job attrition, has been reduced from 1215 to 926 employees.

Across the board budget cuts are the only way to balance the state's budget without raising taxes, which no one is willing to suggest. So the short term outlook for measurable improvements in park maintenance, capital projects, and open space protection is grim. The good news is Commissioner Abbott's park management experience, agency reorganization, and improved accountability should lead to maximizing the limited dollars we do have. In the long term, these improvements should give advocacy groups and the public the tools we need to get more funds into the budget so that we will be able to build a "world class park system" to last well into the future.