Posted on 12/15/2006 10:16:03 AM PST by george76
A trip to Lake Powell could cost you a bit more if an Arizona city succeeds in annexing a portion of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.
National Park Service officials worry the measure could affect hunting within the park and send ripples through the agency, setting a precedent for how other national parks are managed.
In order to reap the revenue from a proposed 3 percent sales tax at the Wahweap and Antelope Point marinas and other concessionaires within the park, the city of Page, Ariz., wants to annex 21,000 acres of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and the Glen Canyon Dam between Lee’s Ferry and the Utah state line.
Page Mayor Dan Brown said the tax is aimed at vacationers who use city facilities and emergency services, and it would bring in about $500,000 for the city annually.
Page, he said, offers some of the only emergency services in the region.
If the measure succeeds, it could pave the way for other national park “gateway communities” to annex the parks that border them for tax revenue against the will of the National Park Service...
If the annexation is successful, a community such as Fruita or Moab, Utah, could hypothetically annex a park like Colorado National Monument or Arches National Park just to reap the sales tax revenue...
Park Superintendent Kitty Roberts said in a letter to Brown that Coconino County provides some emergency services, and if the annexation is successful, Page police would have to patrol the Colorado River and Lake Powell, and assume other emergency responsibilities they don’t now offer.
Schneider said the National Park Service is concerned Page could interfere with park management and begin to regulate hunting and zoning within the recreation area.
(Excerpt) Read more at gjsentinel.com ...
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I have little doubt that gun and hunting regs from the Page town council would be preferable to Park Service regs handed down from on high in Washington.
-ccm
Kelo case coming back to bite somebody on their hindquarter
Dayton, Ohio, tried to annex Wright-Patterson AFB a couple decades ago. Pretty nice deal for them - charge income tax for every worker there while the Air Force handles police, fire department, roads, recreation and any parks or green space on the base. About the only expense Dayton would have had was hiring a few new people in the tax department to count all the new money. Fortunately the plan was shut down pretty quickly.
Nice work for a local town.
Hire a few people to count all the new sales tax money.
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