NYS Senate votes to preserve snowmobile trail fund

Senator George Maziarz said in a press release, that Governor Pataki's attempted raid on the state's snowmobile trail fund was rejected by the state senate in budget bills approved in that chamber recently.

"The revenue coming into the snowmobile trail fund is from snowmobile registration fees and that money is supposed to be dedicated for use in trail development and maintenance - nothing else," Senator Maziarz said. "When we first learned that this money was going to be redirected, we knew we had to do something to protect our resources for this important recreational sport. So we're saying no and we're approving budget measures that leave the snowmobile trail fund intact," the press release stated.

In his Executive Budget, Governor Pataki proposed reallocating $2.5 million from the snowmobile trail fund for use in the general fund to pay for other state expenses.

"Too many people may underestimate how popular, how well-organized, and how economically important the snowmobiling community is in upstate New York," Senator Maziarz stated in the press release. "This was a clear instance where we had to put our foot down so the sport can receive these earmarked funds and continue to grow."

The Senate and Assembly have each passed their own budget bills for State Fiscal Year 2006-2007. Conference Committees between the two chambers will be meeting during the rest of the month to work on passage of a final budget before the April 1 deadline.

March 19, 2006