Parks and Wildlife Department
An Audit Report on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's Management of the State Park System
September 1998
Report Number 99-002
Overall Conclusion
Available resources of $41.4 million cover only 80 percent of the $51.5 million needed to run the state park system. Although the Parks and Wildlife Department (Department) has increased park revenue by 85 percent since 1991, other strategies are needed to reduce this $10.1 million operating shortfall. To address the State Parks Division's (Parks Division) current financial dilemma, management should (1) reallocate existing resources by streamlining headquarters operations; (2) reduce costs by restructuring the inventory of state parks or by changing the operations of existing parks; and (3) curtail the new park program until the shortfall is significantly reduced.
Key Facts and Findings
The Department needs to do a better job of determining where to cut costs. To reduce expenditures, the Parks Division has cut core services at parks. These cuts have been made without sufficient data on where to make selective cuts, and much of the reduction has been achieved by deferring basic maintenance, limiting equipment replacement, and reducing field staff.
Management reports that 31 parks were "operationally profitable" in fiscal year 1997. However, management's calculation does not include all relevant costs. Including these costs means that only six parks are profitable.
A number of Parks Division central office support functions and activities could be eliminated without significant negative impact to either customers or park operations. The salaries associated with these activities total $770,000 per year.
Parks Division management has not comprehensively defined the financial and non-financial information it needs to plan and manage the park system. The lack of accuracy or completeness of these data affect performance measure reports to the Legislative Budget Board, and impede analysis that might be undertaken for internal management purposes.
The Department will need to develop formal, written plans to effectively manage its repair and construction program. The Legislature has authorized $60 million of bonds to meet critical repair needs. The Department plans to spread the use of the bond funds over a five- to six-year period. Management based this schedule on its estimate of potential workload capacity; the schedule does not ensure that critical repairs are addressed as quickly as possible
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