I find it difficult to believe that the Park Service can’t find $50,000 dollars to open the gate at Overton Beach in a Lake Mead Recreation Area budget that in 2009 was $18.3 MILLION. That is a grand total of .0027% of the yearly budget.
They collected $3.6 MILLION in fees that same year. Although that money can’t be used for wages, it can be used for such things as security fencing around the things they want to protect thus “Improving the visitors experience” as mandated.
I know to most of us $50,000 dollars seems like a fortune right now, but with an operating budget the size the Park Service has, it’s not even a “drop in the bucket.”
-Tye Eastman