Ex-parks workers look to tax returns for funds

KALISPELL, Mont. — Retired National Park Service workers are supporting legislation allowing people to donate money to the agency through a checkoff on their federal tax return.

“I believe there’s enough national pride in the park system to make this work,” said Bill Wade, former superintendent at Shenandoah National Park and spokesman for the Coalition of Concerned National Park Service Retirees. “If the public gets behind this, I think it will pass.”

The bill, called the National Park Centennial Act of 2004, looks to eliminate a $6 billion maintenance backlog in national parks by 2016 — the Park Service centennial.

Taxpayers interested in supporting the parks would donate directly on their tax returns, with the money going specifically to the National Park Service.

The bill calls for the checkoff money to supplement, not replace, the usual annual Park Service appropriation, with 60 percent set aside for maintenance and the rest for research.

Analysts estimate the park service has an annual operating budget deficit of $600,000 and a maintenance backlog of $6 billion.

Last week, an Interior Department appropriations bill passed through committee with a $95 million increase in the base budget for national parks.

Wade said the proposed checkoff would go beyond that, if HR 5358 passes. It was introduced in October.

There is no precedent for such a checkoff on federal income tax forms, but states have used such checkoffs for years.

“It could be an important piece of legislation,” said Steve Thompson of the National Parks Conservation Association. “NPCA’s going to put its weight behind this.”