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Sen. Keith Murphy urges higher nonresident park fees to shore up state parks' budget
Summary
At a Ways and Means public hearing, Sen. Keith Murphy said SB 511 would let the parks commissioner set higher fees for out‑of‑state visitors (example $8 vs. $4 for residents) to raise an estimated $2.2 million for maintenance; park staff warned of $100 million in deferred maintenance and cautioned about possible lost visitation if fees are set too high.
Sen. Keith Murphy introduced SB 511 at the Ways and Means subcommittee public hearing, saying New Hampshire’s state parks currently charge a uniform $4 entry fee for residents and nonresidents and proposing separate nonresident pricing to raise operating revenue.
"This bill is intended to increase revenue for our park system," Murphy said, citing a fiscal-note estimate that doubling nonresident day-use fees could generate approximately $2,200,000 in additional revenue. He repeated that he would support a smaller increase if the committee prefers: "If it came back to the committee, to the senate at $6 instead of $8, I would support concurrence." (Sen. Keith Murphy)
The bill would permit the parks commissioner to set different fee structures for residents and nonresidents, including for specific uses such as camping. Murphy told members the statutory language lets the commissioner retain resident fees at current levels while charging nonresidents a higher amount.
Park operations officials described how the system currently uses tiered, amenity‑based pricing for campsites and high‑use areas, but said entry fees collected through the website and by staff are currently uniform in many places. "We currently sit on about a $100,000,000 of deferred maintenance," said Jerry Messer, deputy supervisor of park operations, describing the scale of repairs and replacements the system faces. Messer warned that a substantial revenue shortfall would force cuts to services, maintenance and lifeguard staffing at some parks.
Committee members probed the fiscal assumptions. Some voices cautioned that higher nonresident fees could reduce visitation from neighboring states and harm local economies that depend on park tourism, while others emphasized the equity rationale—that New Hampshire residents have already invested in the land and should pay less to visit it. Sen. Murphy argued nonresident visitors already incur travel costs and that fee differentials in neighboring states (he cited Massachusetts charging substantially more in some parks) make the proposed increase reasonable.
Members also discussed practical issues: how to distinguish residents from nonresidents at busy vehicle entry points, whether annual passes or meter‑based urban beaches would be affected, and whether weekday versus weekend (peak) pricing could be used instead of a simple resident/nonresident split. Park staff said some uses—such as Hampton Beach parking meters—are not currently collected in the same way and would be less straightforward to apply the nonresident rule to.
The committee closed the public hearing on SB 511 without immediate action; staff were invited to provide additional information and members raised the possibility of amending rates or giving the commissioner flexibility to implement graduated or location‑based pricing.
