Parks and Recreation seeks program consolidation, higher seasonal pay and marina repairs at Heyburn State Park

The Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation told the Joint Finance Committee that it plans to consolidate two internal programs, raise seasonal wages and use dedicated funds for capital projects including marina dock replacement at Heyburn State Park on Lake Coeur d'Alene.

The requested consolidation would merge management services and park operations into a single budgeted program, agency officials said, a change the department says is administrative and would “net to zero” in total appropriation. Janet Jessup, budget and policy analyst with Legislative Services, told the committee the agency is currently allocated 190.8 full-time positions and that capital projects are typically handled through a separate, one-time capital program.

Director Susan Buxton said the department is proposing targeted increases for seasonal employees and for ranger pay to address internal compression and recruitment problems. “When you have someone you're trying to hire as a ranger who has a lot of experience and you have to bring them in at the same or a little bit higher than the person who's been there 20 years, all of a sudden you have compression,” Buxton said. Buxton described the seasonal wage proposal as a step to ensure pay parity with comparable jobs and said many parks require staff who hold STEM degrees and perform complex infrastructure and safety work.

The department is asking to raise seasonal pay from $12 an hour toward $15 an hour and acknowledged market pressure in resort and remote communities may require higher local pay in some locations. Buxton said the agency hires roughly 300 seasonal employees annually and relies on more than 500 volunteers to operate state parks. Jennifer Quindell Miller, the department's human resources officer, told the committee managers can pay within the current range but that the department expects to push the floor higher to recruit staff in some resort communities.

Committee members pressed for details on capital and maintenance requests. Jessup highlighted capital outlay requests that include improvements at Bear Lake Fish Haven and Lake Cascade; she said the governor's recommendation included the agency's full capital requests. Buxton described an active project at Heyburn State Park to replace two aging marinas, saying the Coeur d'Alene Tribe has contributed design work and offered funding support. Buxton said the project will replace more than 150 slips across the two facilities and likely add additional slips when rebuilt. She identified the marinas as Rocky Point and Chatcolet (reported in committee materials), and said the tribe offered “at least a million dollars” toward the work.

The committee also asked about an equipment purchase listed for snow removal and snowmobile program use. Troy Elmore, the department's operations administrator, said the compact wheel loader would be purchased through the snowmobile sticker fund and used to clear parking lots at high-snow snowmobile access locations. Elmore said the department owns groomers and the counties operate snowmobile programs; the loader purchase would cover about one-third of the snowmobile grooming program parking lots across roughly 27 county programs.

Jessup and Buxton outlined that many of the department's recent appropriations were one-time funds for deferred maintenance and that the spending profile reflects multi-year projects that can appear as a spike in appropriations followed by reductions as projects complete. Jessup noted the department's consolidated fund analysis shows a mix of dedicated and federal funds and that many receipts (boat registrations, snowmobile and OHV permits, etc.) are statutorily restricted to specific uses.

Buxton closed by offering more detail and documentation to committee members on deferred maintenance projects and capital spending schedules.

Less critical details: the agency also proposed a tiered ranger compensation program and some one-time implementation costs tied to that proposal. The governor's budget recommended the agency's enhancement requests in full.