White House criticized on maintenance budget
| • | Visitors center sinking |
By Frank Oliveri
Advertiser Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — President Bush pledged two years ago to eliminate a $4.9 billion maintenance backlog at the nation's parks, a problem he blamed on the Clinton administration.
But Bush's critics say the $662 million that the administration will spend the next two years to bring the backlog under control is far short of what is needed.
"The Bush administration has provided little new money itself," said Blake Selzer, an analyst for the National Parks Conservation Association in Washington. "Instead, it is using creative accounting to reach the president's pledge on the backlog."
The administration says it is using park fees and standard transportation, construction and maintenance money to whittle down the backlog. But the Congressional Research Service said in a report obtained by The Advertiser that administration officials have offered no guidance on how much of that money should be spent on overdue repair and maintenance projects.
The maintenance backlog now stands at $5.4 billion, according to the Congressional Research Service and the General Accounting Office, Congress's investigative arm.
National Parks Service director Fran Minella recently refused to quantify the cost of the current backlog, saying only that the service is well on the way to developing a grading system to assess maintenance and repair at the national parks.
"The agency has completed, or is nearing completion of, a number of substantial and important steps," the GAO noted in a September status report.
