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No New Taxes, But Higher SD State Park Fees

The signature promiseof the Kristi Noem Administration is “We Won’t Raise Taxes.”

To keep that promise, Governor Noem has to raise fees:

It’s going to cost more to visit and camp at South Dakota’s state parks.

The Game, Fish and Parks Commission unanimously approved increases to its state park entrance and camping fees on Thursday night. GFP staff were seeking the increase to cover the costs of maintenance and flood damage at the parks.

The increase will now go to the legislative Rules Review Committee for approval. If it receives the green light, the increased fees could go into effect on Jan. 1.

The annual park pass will increase from $30 to $36, and the daily park pass will increase from $6 to $8. A vehicle seven-day pass for Custer State Park will increase from $10 to $20. The new camping fees will range from $20 for modern campgrounds to $55 for camping cabins. The GFP Commission also created a new statewide fee of $15 for designated tent-only campsites with no electricity.

The increase will bring in about $3 million in additional annual revenue. The state park system sustained about $8 million in flood damage and had a decrease in park visitor and campsite reservations this year. About 84% of the state park system is funded via user fees and federal money, and park fees have remained steady over the last five to six years [Lisa Kaczke, “Why You’ll Soon Pay More to Go to South Dakota State Parks,” that Sioux Falls paper, 2019.10.04].

If we want nice things, we have to pay for them. (And with Mayor Travis Schaunaman eager to chop down Aberdeen’s trees, we’ll have all the more need for nice arboreal places to which to retreat on the weekend.) Governor Noem can promise all she wants not to take more of your money, but she’s already doing it, and she’ll have to keep doing it, as long as we want to have parks and roads… not to mention raises for her kids.

20 Comments

  1. Realist 2019-10-08 07:58

    So let me get this straight – a liberal forum is opposed to raising state park fees that go to its upkeep and protection – i.e. protecting the environment? Raising the park fee is to offset the lower park attendance over recent years to keep up with santitation, upkeep, staff, etc. Hypothetical – say they state park entrance is now free, the park degrades due to lack of necessary upkeep – would the uproar then be about the Government not adequately funding state parks to protect them? I dont view it as “Governor Noem taking more of my money” – I view it as a necessary increase to keep our parks safe, clean, and open.

  2. MJK 2019-10-08 08:14

    Tourism is one of the big money resources in the state and our parks and recreation draw visitors. I am okay with raising these kinds of fees. I am more worried about our federal-funded national parks and I am concerned about the GOP’s attitude toward preservation and climate change. Federal government seems to really like money so I hope our public national parks of beauty, animals and preservation are preserved and funded for future generations.

  3. Chuck Point 2019-10-08 08:30

    Raising these kinds of fees has an undue burden on low income folks. It is nothing to Wealthy, they very rarely go to parks, they go to country clubs. Smh.

  4. Dana P 2019-10-08 09:10

    Ms Noem continues to qualify for nick name, “Governor Fee Fee”. (a title once held by then Mass Governor, Mitt Romney)

    Call it a fee, not a tax, THEN you can ‘brag’ about not raising taxes.

  5. mike from iowa 2019-10-08 10:14

    …depends on your definition of what “is” is. User fees are taxes just as surely as my apple trees make little green apples. Calling meadow muffins candy won’t make them more palatable.

    I assume Realist is a man. Therefore, can we call him surrealist?

  6. Ryan 2019-10-08 16:55

    Mike said “I assume Realist is a man. Therefore, can we call him surrealist?”

    Credit where credit is due. Well played.

  7. Korey Jackson 2019-10-08 19:34

    Add on to this cost is an additional non-refundable fee of $7.70 per campsite, payable even if no reservation is made.

    This added fee raises the cost of camping at South Dakota State Park campsites above many other states.

  8. Ken 2019-10-08 21:03

    I spent the 30 bucks for the sticker last year and went to a State park exactly twice. Now they want to raise it six bucks MORE? I’ve not heard about the folks that work in the parks getting raises. This is just another money grab by Know-Nothing Noem. This state immediately dumps any lawsuit windfall into that black hole called the General Fund, then cries poverty when money is needed for something.

    There are some nice State parks, I agree, but none have full hookups. Water and power only, no sewer hookups. For what it’s beginning to cost, there are better equipped places to park your camper that offer more.

  9. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2019-10-08 21:34

    Oh, “Realist,” you always come with the same bent, making some generic and tired ideological point about the speakers based on your wishful inaccurate reading instead of discussing the contradictions and failures of your actual elected officials. Sigh.

    You wrote, “a liberal forum is opposed to raising state park fees that go to its upkeep and protection,” when I clearly wrote, “If we want nice things, we have to pay for them.” I welcome anyone to try to make a point, “Realist”, but I would prefer you make your point on the basis if things actually said, not the strawman arguments you wish you could get by with.

  10. Sam@ 2019-10-08 22:05

    Very fair plan those that use pay. Parks need to be self supporting

  11. Debbo 2019-10-08 22:19

    Time spent in natural places is proven to reduce levels of stress and agression in people. Due to that critical, positive impact, they ought to be available to everyone.

    LOWER the fees a lot so any individual or family can afford them. Create an equitable, progressive system of taxation that includes money for supporting state parks.

    Last, teach NoMa’am to be honest about her actions. Whenever she takes an official action that requires people to pay more across the board, she is raising taxes.

  12. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2019-10-08 22:25

    Chuck makes an important point: park fees are a regressive tax. Parks are a public good and should be paid for by the public at large.

  13. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2019-10-08 22:26

    Parks shouldn’t have to be self-supporting any more than public schools support themselves with tuition. User fees defeat the purpose of public goods.

  14. Timothy Even 2019-10-10 10:56

    We have to buy the high priced sticker just to use the boat ramps! It seems that gfp is a for profit enterprise catering to out of state interests.

  15. jerry 2019-10-12 13:25

    Privatization seems to be the way we are going. Native companies, bid on the Black Hills and Badlands, you will now have that opportunity.

    “WASHINGTON — A Trump administration advisory panel is recommending an ambitious plan to give private businesses greater access to national parks, according to a memorandum written by an advisory council for the Department of the Interior.

    Some price increases could also in the works for park visitors under the plan.

    Drafters of the plan say it amounts to little more than a much-needed modernization of aging infrastructure, and that the goal is to make national parks accessible to a younger, more diverse audience. Critics, on the other hand, see corporate influence at work.” https://www.yahoo.com/news/campgrounds-in-national-parks-set-to-be-privatized-in-new-trump-plan-090019066.html

    Visitors could then be greeted with authentic ownership, complete with a copy of the treaty at the entrance. Priceless.

  16. Robin Friday 2019-10-12 16:26

    Now they’re talking about building privatized “juvenile facilities” for the kids who were formerly kids in cages, and now growing into “juveniles”. My god, how can this be in America?

  17. Robin Friday 2019-10-12 16:39

    Raising park fees–simply one more instance of wealth inequality. Only those who can afford it can enjoy our state and its features as nature made it. Sad.

  18. jerry 2019-10-12 16:39

    Orwellian? Nope Republican. This has always been their dream. Going back as far as FDR to rid themselves of anything that has the scent of social programs. Remember, in the 1930’s, Republicans were okay with creating the Great Depression in the hopes of keeping the gold standard to impoverish even further. What we are seeing is the real America, either get used to it or change it.

  19. Robin Friday 2019-10-12 17:19

    Haven’t been to the Hills in a couple of years, but as I remember it, visitors must pay the State Park fee just to drive down Needles Highway. I’ve never objected to park fees, but it might be a bit of a shock to visitors from another state to shell out–what would it be, $36.00?–for more than a one-day permit. Most people just want to see Mt. Rushmore, but that’s not nature to me. Having guests next summer. Hope to show them more than Mr. Rushmore, whether they want to see it or not. :-)

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