By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD — A bill that would increase park fees for out of state residents has cleared a committee of conference.
The House agreed to the Senate’s position on House Bill 1102-FN, which also includes provisions increasing the research and development tax credit cap.
It requires the commissioner of the department of natural and cultural resources to set state park entry fees for New Hampshire residents at no more than 50 percent of the fees charged to nonresidents.
If signed into law, it allows separate fee schedules for specific uses within state parks and permits discounted or waived rates for veterans and school or student groups.
State Sen. Tim Lang, R-Sanbornton, and the bill’s prime sponsor, state Rep. John Janigian, R-Salem, were the two conferees taking different positions.
Lang said it is doubtful that a visitor to the state spending $2,000 would be dissuaded from visiting by a small fee increase.
But Janigian asked whether an out-of-state visitor who was only coming for the day, rather than a week, might be discouraged from visiting by the fee increase.
“They would still be cheaper than Massachusetts. So, if they are that concerned about money, then this still is a cost benefit to come to New Hampshire rather than go to a local park,” Lang said during a committee of conference on Tuesday.
After a quick caucus break for the House members, they returned to announce that they had unanimously agreed to the Senate’s amended version.
See NH State Parks here: https://www.nhstateparks.org/find-parks-trails/flume-gorge
The bill also raises the aggregate value of all research and development tax credits that can be claimed and raises the hard cap on the research and development tax credit an entity can claim.
The Department of Natural and Cultural Resources states this bill would result in an indeterminable impact on State Park Fund revenues and expenditures.
Based on FY 2023 visitation data, DNCR estimates that approximately half of all state park visitors are residents and half are nonresidents.
If DNCR reduced the day-use fee for residents by 50 percent, revenue would decrease by approximately $1.1 million.
Conversely, doubling nonresident day-use fees could generate approximately $2.2 million in additional revenue. However, DNCR anticipates that fee changes of this extent would deter visitation by 5 to 20 percent, reducing the expected revenue gain.
DNCR also anticipates implementation costs of more than $100,000 to modify reservation and point-of-sale systems to verify residency and apply differential pricing.
The bill also states that additional costs may occur due to longer entry lines, visitor disputes over residency status, and a multi-year period of fee adjustments needed to stabilize pricing under the new model.
Altogether, DNCR estimates an indeterminable change in State Park Fund revenue ranging from a decrease of approximately $1.5 million to an increase of $2 million per fiscal year, and an indeterminable increase in State Park Fund expenditures starting in FY 2028 ranging from approximately $100,000 to $500,000 and in FY 2029 and each year thereafter would range from $10,000 to $100,000 annually.
While it appears both chambers support the idea and will vote on it, it would then head to the governor’s office for signature or veto.