Glacier Park's roller-coaster budget story
Understanding Glacier National Park’s annual budget is a lot like understanding a city budget — both serve the public, and both rely heavily on full-time and part-time staff to get the mission accomplished. But there are big differences.
“The National Park Service has the second largest infrastructure in the U.S., after the Defense Department,” Glacier Park superintendent Jeff Mow told the Hungry Horse News.
And like cities and counties, once a national park receives money for new infrastructure — roads and bridges, water and sewer lines — future repairs and continuing maintenance is typically paid out of the base budget, Mow said.
A good example is the Going-to-the-Sun Road rehabilitation project, which received more than $130 million in federal funding. But Glacier Park won’t receive additional funding for regular maintenance of the additional removable guard rails and culverts.
Nearly half of the $28.2 million Glacier Park received in fiscal year 2014 was in the base budget.
“Compared to other national parks, Glacier Park’s base budget is small relative to the rest of the budget,” Mow said.
Revenue
About 12 percent of the base budget came from recreation fees, including money collected at the entrance gate, 10 percent came from concessions, 2 percent from the Federal Highway Administration for roads, 1 percent from donations, 9 percent from offsetting and other sources, and about 20 percent from special projects, such as bull trout protection in lakes up the North Fork.
“The overall picture is $28 million, but that could shrink as projects finish and the base budget does not increase,” Mow said.
Times were different at the start of the millennium — Glacier Park’s base budget grew by 56 percent from $9.18 million in 2000 to $14.41 million in 2010, its peak year. During that same time, the base budget for the entire National Park Service increased by about 37 percent, while the consumer price index rose by about 30 percent.
Glacier Park’s base budget fell slightly in 2004 and then saw a 10 percent increase in 2008. The $1.25 million increase that year went to federally-mandated cost-of-living increases, additional seasonal hires and extending tours for seasonal positions.
The base budget then declined steadily from 2011 to 2015, falling by nearly 7 percent altogether. A big cut came in 2013 as a result of $153.4 million in sequestration cuts for the National Park Service ordered by Congress. The Park Service provided park superintendents with advice on how to handle the change in its FY 2013 Budget Justifications document:
“Parks that are unable to cut hours or visitor services during low visitation seasons may need to resort to reducing the number of seasonal employees hired during peak visitation,” the Park Service advised. “While seasonal employees are critical to providing expanded visitor services during high visitation seasons, they are also a significant source of park expenditures and provide more fiscal flexibility than permanent staff.”
As the Park adjusted to a leaner budget, it turned more to volunteers and private donations from its fundraising arm, the Glacier National Park Conservancy — which even provided money for snowplowing on the Sun Road one year.
Expenditures
About 63 percent of Glacier Park’s base budget in 2014 paid for salaries and benefits, about 18 percent was for utilities and communication, 5 percent for supplies and materials, 3 percent for contractual services, 2 percent for travel, 2 percent for equipment and 2 percent for vehicles.
The 2014 base budget included a 1 percent pay hike. Decreases were absorbed by vehicles, contracts, equipment, travel, supplies and materials.
Glacier Park’s base budget is divided into six areas, with 144 permanent and 300 to 350 temporary workers in 2014:
• Superintendent’s office, which handles public affairs, lands and partnerships, had six permanent and two temporary workers.
• Administrative department, which oversees radio, IT and phone, housing, budgets and property, had 16 permanent and two temporary workers.
• Interpretative division, which includes interpreters, education, the visitor center and volunteer programs, had 11 permanent and 43 temporary workers.
• Natural and cultural resources and science management, which oversees environmental compliance, archives, the learning center and archaeologists, had 21 permanent and 34 temporary workers.
• Facilities management, which handles maintenance, campgrounds, roads, utilities, vehicles, other equipment and the Going-to-the-Sun Road rehabilitation, had 50 permanent and 66 temporary workers.
• Concessions had five permanent workers.
• Visitor resources and protection, which handles law enforcement, trails, backcountry emergencies, filming and special uses, firefighting and fees, had 35 permanent and 167 temporary workers.