On Monday, July 8, the Nassau County Legislature voted to increase park user fees at the request of the county administration. Since 1992, Nassau County parks, preserves, museums and Historic sites have been deteriorating badly, the number of park personnel diminishing and the fees increasing. Nassau county taxpayers and residents are paying more for less, a lot less.

The properties and facilities under the jurisdiction of the Parks Department were bought and maintained with public monies. They belong to the residents and taxpayers of Nassau County. County government is the trustee and not the "owner" of these facilities. It has the obligation to provide free and unrestricted access to all facilities to all county residents.

The purpose in acquiring and maintaining parks, preserves and historic sites is to "provide low cost family recreation to Nassau County Residents." Parks should not be viewed as profit centers; that is not their function. Parks must be paid for through a broad based tax levied as equally as possible on all residents. Park taxes should be noted on a separate line on each residents tax bill, allowing the taxpayer to monitor costs vs. services.

Park fees should only be applied to those services that require abnormal administrative time or high and unusual costs. Fees whose only purpose is to generate revenue negates the very theory of why public parks are maintained in the first place. Fees without a corresponding service or for reduced services are bad business and more importantly bad government.

Instituting and raising fees, as county government did this past week, borders on economic discrimination. They negatively impact most on those residents with low and limited incomes, i.e. seniors, young families with children, retirees on fixed incomes, etc. Thus the people who need the park system for their recreation the most are the first to be unable to afford it.

In these troubled financial times this is unconscionable. Common sense and principles of community service would indicate that existing fees should be lowered, increasing attendance, which in turn would increase revenues.

In county parks with pools, the popular 20 coupon ($40) discount pool booklets were discontinued and a season pass ($155) instituted without offering the public a choice. An additional $2 daily fee is now imposed on any child that wants to use the water slide. Pet owners now have to pay an annual $25 fee to use the dog run, which the county neither monitors nor maintains. Surf fishermen who use Nassau Beach or Hempstead Harbor Beach from 4:30 to 8 a.m. will also have to pay a $25 annual fee. For what? A non-refundable $25 filing fee is now required to enter the marina and cabana lottery each year entitling a resident to a 1 in 12 chance of winning a slip or cabana.

These are only some of the nuisance fees or increases to be imposed. The result is so flawed and unjustified, that in the public interest, they should have been rejected in their entirety. Once again, Nassau County government is picking the pockets of the tax paying residents and these monies will disappear into the morass of the county general fund, providing no benefit to the parks or their users.

It would have been of greater value for the legislature to have asked the Department of Parks, Recreation and Museums to identify management initiatives and operational improvements which will allow them to function more efficiently, effectively and economically with minimum resources. The park system has been crumbling for over 10 years and continues to do so. Radical innovation is needed to stop and reverse that process. We have seen no evidence to date that this is happening. Creating and raising fees is not the answer!