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| Budget deal softens state park cuts By Mark Noack [ mark@hmbreview.com ] Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, July 22, 2009 3:01 PM PDT Details are still murky on how state parks on the Coastside will fare in a new state budget deal brokered on Monday by political leaders in Sacramento. Local state parks officials say that so far there is no updated list of parks being threatened with closure under the new budget revision. The California State Parks Department reportedly will face an $8 million cut in the budget revision that could be voted on by the Legislature sometime this week. “There’s no current list of parks being closed,” said Chet Bardo, district supervisor for the Santa Cruz region, which includes the Coastside. “Our department hasn’t gone down that road. Once we get our budget, that’ll be our next step.” In May, Governor Schwarzenegger called for $70 million in cuts to state parks as a way to help balance California’s ballooning budget deficit. That plan would have meant closing 220 parks, including local Coastside state parks such as Butano, Portolla Redwoods, Año Nuevo, Half Moon Bay, Gray Whale Cove, Montara, San Gregorio, Pescadero and the Point Montara Lighthouse. But reports on the new budget revision indicate the hit to state parks has been softened. Under the new deal, lawmakers have used $62 million in backfill funds from other sources to even out the park cuts. Bardo said it is not clear yet what the $8 million in remaining cuts will mean for Coastside parks, which draw upwards of one million tourists to the region annually. |