Missouri Parks, Soils and Water Sales Tax Renewal on Nov 8th ballot | SoilWaterParks.com

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When Brandon Butler moved to the Show-Me State, it didn’t take the avid outdoorsman long to discover new places for his family to hike, camp and fish, including Missouri’s state parks. But the Indiana native was shocked by what he found when he first pulled up to a state park.

“There was no one waiting there to charge me an entrance fee,” said Butler, executive director of the Conservation Federation of Missouri and member of the Citizens Committee for Soil, Water and State Parks. “Back home in Indiana, they charge $7 per carload. When we lived out in Colorado, they charged up to $9 per car just to get in. I couldn’t believe that Missouri’s parks were free.”

Butler soon learned that for more than 30 years, the citizens of Missouri have overwhelmingly supported a tax that allows anyone to visit any state park or historic site absolutely free of charge. This one-tenth-cent sales tax creates an efficient and effective revenue stream for both soil and water conservation efforts and operation of the state park system. Today, it annually generates about $90 million, which is equally distributed to the Soil and Water Tax Fund and the State Park Sales Tax Fund.

The Show-Me State was the first in the nation to pass such a tax, and its need was clear. In the early 1980s, Missouri’s state parks and historic sites were quickly losing ground, lacking funds for even basic maintenance. Improvements to facilities — much less expansions — were but a pipe dream. Some parks even had to be closed for a time.

The situation for soil and water conservation was just as dire. Missouri’s soil-erosion rate was the second highest in the nation, clogging waterways with choking sediment that impacted water quality for everyone living downstream. The very resource on which agriculture, the state’s largest industry, depended was literally washing away.

Voters chose to begin solving these problems in 1984 when they passed the one-tenth-cent sales tax for an initial five-year period. Since then, it has been renewed three times — in 1988, 1996 and most recently in 2006.

Today, the successes that can be attributed to the Parks, Soils and Water Tax are clearly evident statewide. State parks and historic sites are now an integral component of Missouri’s tourism industry and a favorite destination for “staycations.”

Surveys indicate that nearly three-quarters of Missourians visit a state park at least once a year. In 2015, more than 19.2 million people visited state parks and historic sites generating an economic impact of more than $1.02 billion and supporting more than 14,500 jobs. The parks consistently earn a 97 percent approval rating from visitors.

The system has grown to include 88 state parks and historic sites. Since the tax was renewed in 2006, additions have included the Battle of Island Mound State Historic Site, Current River State Park, Don Robinson State Park, Rock Island Trail State Park and, mostly recently, Echo Bluff State Park, which opened to the public on July 30.

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Missouri Parks, Soils and Water Sales Tax Renewal on Nov 8th ballot | SoilWaterParks.com

MoBikeFed comment: The Soil, Parks, and Water tax provides major funding for trails in all Missouri state parks as well as the Katy Trail and Rock Island Trail.

Find out more about the tax renewal that will be on the November 8th, 2016, ballot at https://soilwaterparks.com/2016/08/22/funding-the-future/