Springfield - State Senator Dan Rutherford voted against the statewide increase in camping fees proposed by the Blagojevich administration and brought before the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) Tuesday.
-This is another one of the 300 fee increases approved by the Democrats last spring,- said Rutherford. -I agree we should not solve the state-s financial problems by increasing income and sales taxes. But it is irresponsible to increase spending by 13.6% and increase consumer fees to pay for it. One of my colleagues compares the camping fee increase to balancing the budget on the backs of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and that is exactly what the Blagojevich administration is doing.-
Rutherford opposed Blagojevich-s 300 fee increases as a group when they came before the Legislature and continues to review each fee on its own merits as they come before JCAR.
Rutherford contends this fee increase only further complicates an already unfair fee system for those using state campgrounds.
-Regardless of the fairness of these fees, the bottom line is that the increase will be used to fill budget holes not related to parks. If we are going to increase fees for campers, the money should be used to exclusively improve facilities that campers use,- Rutherford said.
