The Rising Cost of Roughing It

When John and Fern Hollis started camping at Faria County Park near Ventura in the early 1970s, it cost them $3 a day.

This Labor Day, they’re shelling out $16 a day to park their camper along the Rincon Parkway. And the price is about all that’s changed.

Cars and trucks still rumble past, sometimes buffeting their oversize camper, trains rattle by at all hours, and getting to the beach still requires a dexterous climb down a boulder-filled embankment.

“It’s a little pricey, but you’ll have to look awfully hard to find a place like this,” said Fern Hollis, a Burbank retiree.

Yet after a flurry of fee increases at state and county parks over the past several years, some users are beginning to ask how their money is being spent when fewer amenities, such as bathrooms and additional campsites, are being offered.

“In my opinion it’s way too much,” said Pismo Beach resident Bo Beaubien, who paid $80 for a five-day stay along the coastal road. “I like this place, but in some ways it’s not worth the money we’re paying. . . . You know there’s the train and all the cars, then there’s no dump station and no way to get down to the beach, so I’d like to know where all the money’s going.”

It’s evident from looking at a map of Ventura County that the area is a unique outdoor playground crammed full of county, state and federal recreation areas, giving visitors the option of everything from sunning themselves on the beach to trolling mountain streams for trout.

Yet complaints over rising fees have become familiar to rangers and administrators in charge of the parks.

Their response is simple: In the face of decreased funding and new mandates to make parks pay for themselves or even turn a profit, each day is a test to stretch every penny just to ensure that the parks are maintained.

The county’s park system just lost an annual subsidy from Channel Islands Harbor, prompting severe staff cuts. State parks have also undergone a budget squeeze that reduced staff and increased cost-cutting. And the Los Padres National Forest has begun charging visitors simply to hike.

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“I understand the complaints. . . . They feel that charging fees is like having to pay to go to a temple,” said Johnny Johnston, director of the Ventura County Department of Parks and Recreation. “But this is a real challenge because there is so little money to go around.”

With about $1.9 million a year to maintain the county’s 23 parks, six community centers and web of trails, Johnston said there is just enough to pay the salaries of employees and purchase materials such as gasoline and grass seed for general upkeep.

Last year, the parks department generated about $1.3 million in income, of which about $500,000 was collected from fees from the county’s two public golf courses.

The rest of the funding came from a variety of state and federal grants. The total is enough for the department to care for what it has, but nothing more.

“Most of our money goes to capital maintenance just to keep everything up and running,” Johnston said. “There isn’t enough for us to add the kinds of services some visitors would like to see, but there may come a time when we’re able to do that.”

That time is not likely to come soon. Last year, the county Board of Supervisors voted to ax a $1-million-a-year subsidy from the harbors, leaving parks in a financial vise.

“This past year has not been a textbook operation,” said park ranger supervisor Pam Gallo. “It’s put us in a difficult position where we’re having to do two jobs: keep the parks running and find ways of marketing ourselves to make up for the shortfall.”

To get by, the department recently eliminated more than 40% of its staff and is instituting programs to save money at every turn.

It is now banking its hopes on a new golf course and amphitheater planned for Camarillo, which department leaders say could add as much as $1 million a year in revenue.

Just as the county park system has been forced to cut back, the state system is feeling a similar financial squeeze.

Budget cuts over the past several years have led to a dramatic reshuffling and elimination of positions within the state Parks and Recreation Department, as well as new programs to limit spending, said Wes Chapin. He is spokesman for the Channel Coast District, which oversees parks from Ventura to San Luis Obispo counties.

The department collected about $66 million of its nearly $140-million budget from park fees and concessions last year.

Ventura County has four state parks strung along the coast, with fees ranging from $18 a day to stay at McGrath State Beach near Oxnard to $1 for the dog.

The fees didn’t bother some of the campers who filled the 177-site campground for the Labor Day weekend.

“We’ll spend more money on food and beer,” said Armando Barragan of Los Angeles, who is staying the long weekend at the park with his wife, Paula, and son, Erik. “I don’t think [the fees] are that much, and I don’t have any problem paying it.”

Last year Ventura County’s state parks generated $873,000 in revenue, about half collected at McGrath.

The money was funneled into a state fund that is doled out to parks across California on an as-needed basis.

However, with decreased funding from the state and a push to make the system more profitable, the department has established several programs to help boost revenue.

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Department officials have begun instructing district supervisors and park superintendents to do everything from turning off unused lights to using rangers to conduct foot patrols.

There is also an incentive system for superintendents that allows them to keep revenues for their own parks when they exceed quotas set by the state. The administrators can then make the improvements they deem necessary.

“The parks have to be more responsible these days, which isn’t a bad thing,” Chapin said. “Even though there are some problems right now, like the backlog of projects, I think this is going to work out well. We just have to adjust first.”

Federal park officials have responded to falling revenues with the so-called Adventure Pass, a program requiring visitors to pay $5 a day or $30 a year to hike in national forests. Additional fees apply to those using their campgrounds.

Rangers say the program will bring a windfall of money into the park system to pay for maintenance and improved trails and campgrounds. But critics, who have urged local businesses not to sell the passes, have assailed the program as another tax for something the public has already paid for.

County and state parks departments say they hope to meet their financial goals through more efficient operations, but won’t rule out the possibility of some future fee increases.

The county is scheduled to begin reviewing its rates in December and will decide by early next year whether an increase is necessary.

Even so, another dollar here and a dollar there won’t keep the Hollises from again visiting Ventura County.

“I don’t think we’d mind if they charged more,” said John Hollis. “It’s still the cheapest place to stay along the beach.”