State park fees going up a dollar or two

Few increases are steeper in department’s 89-page proposal for next year

A man takes in the view Oct. 6 at the lookout at Pinnacle Mountain State Park’s Visitor Center west of Little Rock. There is no fee to enter the day-use park frequented by hikers, bird-watchers and cyclists.
A man takes in the view Oct. 6 at the lookout at Pinnacle Mountain State Park’s Visitor Center west of Little Rock. There is no fee to enter the day-use park frequented by hikers, bird-watchers and cyclists.

Grady Spann, who was named in January as the director of state parks, likes his numbers concise and processes streamlined.

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Ty Rogers walks down from the scenic overlook earlier this month at Pinnacle Mountain State Park.

On Thursday, Spann will present to the state Parks, Recreation and Travel Commission 89 pages of proposed 2017 park fees and rates that were adjusted a dollar or two here and there.

The Crater of Diamonds State Park entrance fee was increased from $8 to $10.

Cabins at Devil's Den State Park, now rented for $189 a night, will be $190 a night.

A spring night in a lakefront cabin at Lake Chicot will increase from $99 to $100.

"I don't know if it's because I like round numbers or not," Spann said, laughing. "A lot of the adjustments were just like taking $69 for a night and we rounded it off to $70. It needed to be more consistent, to make it easier to manage."

Making the annual review process simpler also held interest for Spann.

In previous years, all four dozen or so park superintendents, five regional supervisors and several department officials would convene in one room to hash out the rate and fee schedule. It was a grueling and time-consuming process, Spann said.

This year, Spann put technology to use and worked from the following playbook:

The process starts rolling in August when each park superintendent reviews the fees, rates and needs of the individual location, making sure that the charges are on par with area proprietors offering the same services. The marked-up proposals are then emailed to their regional supervisor.

The five regional managers meet to review the recommendations, make needed adjustments and then email the compilation to state Department of Parks and Tourism officials.

"My marketing and revenue manager, my operations manager and myself sat down and went through every single page to make sure everything was consistent," Spann said. "It's a lot of hard work. I did it a little different this year than it's been done in the past, but I think it worked fine."

The public will be asked for oral comments on the changes at Thursday's review, which will be held at DeSoto Event Center in Hot Springs Village. The document then will be sent to the state Capitol to weave its way through Gov. Asa Hutchinson's office and the Legislature. Final approval likely will come in December.

The annual process is vital to ensuring the protection of one of Arkansas' most valuable assets, Hutchinson said.

"Not only are our state parks an attraction to visitors, but a point of pride for Arkansans," Hutchinson said. "That's why we want to continue to sustain and maintain the best parks in the country while keeping rates affordable and providing great service to our guests."

The affordability is important to Tiffany Carter, 28, of Arkadelphia, who uses the one weekend a month her railroad-working husband, Billy Carter, 41, gets off from work to load her 22-month-old daughter, Beatriz, into her car seat and head to a state park.

Last weekend, Beatriz plopped down in the middle of a trickling Lee Creek in Devil's Den State Park in West Fork and discovered tadpoles for the first time.

"She really enjoys being outside with nature," Tiffany Carter said. "She was completely flabbergasted by the tadpoles. She couldn't figure out what it was. I caught one and showed it to her. I told her the story of how it was going to turn into a frog."

She supports the fee increases because the state parks are affordable entertainment with built-in education for their daughter.

"If we had to pay an extra $1 to $2 per person, it would be worth it because of all the things the parks do offer," she said. "It's worth the time, effort and passion that the parks put into it."

Perhaps the most significant change in the 2017 proposal is the family season pass, which allows unlimited visits by two adults in the same household and their children under 18 to the water parks and swimming facilities at the state parks.

Each season pass will be $185 per family -- a $15 uptick for the majority of the water parks. Falling in line with the $185 price will be Diamond Springs Water Park in the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, where the pass drops from $235 per season, a cut of $50.

"We did reduce it at Crater Diamond just because it's OK to do that," Spann said. "Crater of Diamonds is one of those parks that is just loved to death. We have so many guests there, so many people getting great memories and experiences. It [the fee cut] may make it a little difficult on them because it may increase the number of people that use their pool, but Crater of Diamonds does a great job of handling that."

The world's only public diamond mine has numerous proposed adjustments to its fees and rates for the coming year. Entrance to the park increased slightly, from $8 to $10 for adults, $5 to $6 for children 6 through 12, and from $120 to $170 for groups of 20.

Rental prices on tools and equipment to go diamond digging were all increased by at least $1, such as the small box screen that increased from $3 to $4 or the wagon rental that went from $6 to $8. The basic diamond hunting kit increased from $10 to $12, and the advanced kit increased from $13 to $15.

Most of the deposits on the equipment remained the same or only had minor increases -- except for the folding army shovel, which doubled its security deposit from $10 to $20.

Spann was mum when asked if the small shovel had become an unofficial souvenir for parkgoers.

"I don't know if they are or not," Spann laughed. "It makes sure they bring them back, or if they do take them home, we're able to replace them."

Other significant changes in the state-park fee and rate schedule include the elimination of tent-only camping discounts at Mount Magazine and Jacksonport state parks. Currently tent-only campers at Mount Magazine pay $20 per night or $15 per night at Jacksonport. In 2017, tent-only campers will be charged between $25 and $32 per night, the same rate as those who use campers and recreational vehicles that require water and sewer hookups.

"You can still camp with a tent. What's happened in the past is we had rates just for tent camping, but they still had the same facilities, still had the availability of water and electric," Spann said. "So what we did was we just made it a straight price across the board because people still use those facilities. It's just the same price across the board."

Room rates at the recently renovated Queen Wilhelmina State Park near Mena were increased and rated according to the north or south view. A king room with spa tub and fireplace increased from $145 to $150 per night for the north side of the mountain and $160 for the south side.

Rental rates for the conference room at Queen Wilhelmina got a steep increase in the proposed rates. Previously, if the customer rented 10 to 24 lodge rooms, the conference room could be rented for $150 per use. The proposed fee for the same level is $250. Usage rates for customers who rent fewer than 10 rooms zoom from $200 per use to $350 per use.

"She's doing wonderful. Our occupancy is very high," Spann said. "The team up there is working incredibly hard to serve the guests. It's been a record-breaking year in visitation, revenue, everything for Queen Wilhelmina. That has impacted totally the whole area of Mena and that whole economy."

Many of the state parks opted for no fee or rate adjustments at all. The golf courses, for example, will have no increases in fees.

"They're beautiful golf courses. We just felt like the way the industry is now, we didn't need to increase any of the fees right now," Spann said.

Mount Magazine does not have any changes in its fees or rates because of ongoing construction.

"I didn't want to increase the price and then we have scaffolding all over the place," Spann said. "It didn't make sense."

And yurt lovers can rest easy. The rate at the six state parks that offer the large, round, high-walled tents that sleep up to six will remain at $55 per night with a $55 deposit.

"I've been in a lot of yurts, but I haven't stayed in one yet," Spann said. "It is a real popular way of camping. You bring your own linen. You bring everything yourself. They have a deck around them. It's kind of a tent experience without having your own tent. It's a sturdy structure. But it's not air-conditioned. It's not climate-controlled. It's a fantastic experience. A lot of families like them. It's an affordable one. I guess I could say an affordable adventure."

It's that affordable adventure that Spann said the fee and rate changes make possible.

The state parks department operates on a $129.3 million budget. About $28.4 million -- or about 22 percent -- of that comes from park operating revenue. Other revenue is received from state funding sources as well as various grants. The 1996 Amendment 75 Conservation Tax, which levies a one-eighth percent general sales tax and passes the revenue on to a handful of state agencies, generates about $30.7 million annually for the parks department.

Spann said it's hard to predict how much the fees and rates will change in the years to come.

"It depends on a lot of factors. You look at the economy. You look at what other businesses are doing," he said. "We always want to be available to all segments of the population. There's always some room for adjustment. As you see, we adjusted down in some areas and adjusted up in some areas. We always want to be very relevant to our guests and the way we price things."

State Desk on 10/19/2016

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