WI Trail Funding Poll
- Thread starter blu2u2
- Start date
yeah I got that budget I want to see a full DNR budget with a full break down of money spent.
it will never happen but I want to see it well it could happen in WI if Walker stays in for a few more terms he will demand full break downs of all tentacles of government spending.
it will never happen but I want to see it well it could happen in WI if Walker stays in for a few more terms he will demand full break downs of all tentacles of government spending.
bearrassler
Active member
I did not vote because I have not ridden in Wisconsin since the 70's, but I looked at how your trails are funded. The club that I am in grooms in two different states, MN and ND, and both have good and bad points. In ND we only have about 17,600 registered sleds and under 3000 miles of trails. Our registration is 40.00 for two years, and the state takes out $4.00 for administration and turns the other 36.00 over to our state association. We only get gas tax based on 30 gallons per sled per year, so our funding is some of the lowest per mile in the US. The good part is that the state only takes $2.00 per year and the rest goes to the State Association which only has 3 employees so our costs are low and the state association runs the grooming program. The state owns most of the groomers and updates them with RTP money when available, and volunteers run them. We can't groom as much as we would like because of low numbers but we don't waste much money on administration. I think you know how MN works and it is good because the club knows what it is getting at the start of the year, but the DNR takes quite a bit for administration.It looks like WS administration costs are high also. I think we are all going to have to try to get as much out of our money as possible because I see it getting tougher instead of better in the future, things like running our groomers an extra year, trying to get more volunteers (that is going to be tough), and taking all the waste out of the grooming programs that we can.
The CAP/STEP program basically screws people like me that work nights, I can never go to club meetings and I'm not going to take a vacation day for a 1 hour meeting. And since most of the clubs around here charge you an inactive club member "surcharge" (because I can't make the meetings), I'm not going to join a club. I have been a club member before when I worked days, and it was good and beneficial, but times have changed. This program forces me to pay a penalty because of reasons I can't control? What BS!
But I would go with raise the registration a little, and require out of staters to buy a trail pass for the year, like everyone else does.
But I would go with raise the registration a little, and require out of staters to buy a trail pass for the year, like everyone else does.
blu2u2, how did the weekend go? I had to work Saturday, couldn't make it this year. Any new info., or is it still the "Good ol Boys" club rules. I really think we need young blood in charge, but who will step up? Hope you had a good weekend. Wish I could have been there.
jr37, I sent you a PM on this. Nothing new to report on the CAP/STEP. The leadership wants to hold off until Jan. and then make a decision on what path the AWSC will take. This was my last Directors Meeting as a Director as I have too much on my plate right now. I will still be involved as the County Rep. However, if things continue the way they have been going the last 2-3 years; I am not sure how long I will be involved with the AWSC....
polarismike
Member
If the Cap/Step hasn't passed the last couple trys, what makes anyone think it will a third time? What has been holding it up?
cruiser trailboss
New member
The boys and girls in Madison wont let us raise the the Wisconsin resident stickers. We may be able to get a raise in the non-resident sticker. After all Minnesota gets $45 for there pass. But the real money is in the gas tax. It is based on a sled using 50 gal of gas per year. That sales tax brings in over 4 million into the snowmobile fund. Get that changed to 100 gal.per sled. and our funding is in much better shape. We could raise the maintence from $250 to $300 to help out the southern clubs. And raise the $750 cap to $1000 to help out the northern clubs. And if the DOT doesnt want to gives us more of our tax money tell them to stop giving grants to user groops that dont pay any gas tax.
This is what I stated at the Directors Meeting at the Spring Convention this year....
The following is the opinion of both the Outagamie County Snowmobile Alliance and myself.
The CAP/STEP Program sounds wonderful on paper as it would bring in much needed funds and increase club memberships. However, what looks good on paper doesn’t always work in reality. Last fall at the workshop I stood up and played “devil’s advocate”. I was and still am on the fence with the program. I agree with the United We Trail Divided We Fail Slogan. However, clubs can’t continue to operate if they are losing money every year. The current system is broken! When will the AWSC take off their blinders and see that until the majority of the snowmobilers in WI join a club; the CAP/STEP Program will likely continue to FAIL! Politicians tend to listen to their constituents. How many times does one hit a brick wall before they realize that they need to change their course?
The Executive Director asked what are we going to do about our image/membership…shouldn’t the AWSC be more concerned with how can the clubs survive operating in the RED!
The Outagamie County Alliance asked that the AWSC look into doubling the registration fees for all to pay. How can the non-club members complain that they are being treated unfairly if everyone has to pay more? Hasn’t the price of just about everything increased since the last time the snowmobile registration in WI was increased???Compared to our neighbors in MI and MN; WI is a very inexpensive state to snowmobile in! Paying $30 per year to snowmobile in the GREATEST SNOWMOBILEING STATE in the United States is a bargain!
The following is the opinion of both the Outagamie County Snowmobile Alliance and myself.
The CAP/STEP Program sounds wonderful on paper as it would bring in much needed funds and increase club memberships. However, what looks good on paper doesn’t always work in reality. Last fall at the workshop I stood up and played “devil’s advocate”. I was and still am on the fence with the program. I agree with the United We Trail Divided We Fail Slogan. However, clubs can’t continue to operate if they are losing money every year. The current system is broken! When will the AWSC take off their blinders and see that until the majority of the snowmobilers in WI join a club; the CAP/STEP Program will likely continue to FAIL! Politicians tend to listen to their constituents. How many times does one hit a brick wall before they realize that they need to change their course?
The Executive Director asked what are we going to do about our image/membership…shouldn’t the AWSC be more concerned with how can the clubs survive operating in the RED!
The Outagamie County Alliance asked that the AWSC look into doubling the registration fees for all to pay. How can the non-club members complain that they are being treated unfairly if everyone has to pay more? Hasn’t the price of just about everything increased since the last time the snowmobile registration in WI was increased???Compared to our neighbors in MI and MN; WI is a very inexpensive state to snowmobile in! Paying $30 per year to snowmobile in the GREATEST SNOWMOBILEING STATE in the United States is a bargain!
This sounds a little bs to me. Not trying to pick on you, but our club has swing shift workers, over the road truck drivers, plumbers who work crazy hours, etc. Sure they can't always come to the meetings, but that doesn't mean they can't be active. I doubt your local club is marking or brushing at night. No reason someone can't find the time to work a saturday or sunday on the trails in the fall or the spring. Doing work for a snowmobile club is no differant than getting your sled ready to ride or summerizing it in the spring. It used to be just a part of owning a snowmobile. That is what is lost in all of this. I do think it is BS that a club would charge a surcharge for a inactive member, but I also think its BS if you are not at the meeting you can't get a text, email, or a call where to meet on a saturday to mark a trail.
I've done the texting, postcards, emails and phone calls to get people out and it is my opinion that after all that and they still don't show up to meetings or help with trailwork then they just don't want to help the club. Those are the folks that will just increase from people being dragged into a club, I think if someone snowmobiles chances are they know about clubs so there is no excuse to not join we just don't need to force them to join we as a group need better ways to bring people into our clubs.
Funding is the big issue, not bringing more people into clubs, I think once trails start closing or not open due to lack of people to work that things for clubs will change. However, we need to get funding to support the trail operations and how we do that is the key.
Funding is the big issue, not bringing more people into clubs, I think once trails start closing or not open due to lack of people to work that things for clubs will change. However, we need to get funding to support the trail operations and how we do that is the key.
I live near Indianapolis and primarily ride out of Vilas County (from a relative's place North of Eagle River). I register my sled in Wisconsin since I never ride it in Indiana. The cost to ride in Wisconsin seems very cheap to me for how well the trails are maintained in that general area. I don't know what the answer is because riding in Southern Wisconsin is going to be much different than Northern Wisconsin, and it might be difficult to get much of an increase out of Southern Wisconsin riders. Perhaps a solution is to offer two different Wisconsin permits - one for the more Southern Counties only and one for the entire state. I always thought Michigan should do this as well, but they obviously have more of a natural split. For example they could charge $25 for the lower peninsula only or $45 for the whole state.
Exactly! People either want to or don't want to. Cap/Step would of funded the snowmobile program and rewarded people who do the work, not penalize the people who don't want to, but the majority don't see it that way. I do care what the bill is called, we need more money, cap/step would of done this and at the same time maybe bring people to into clubs to work a little, but sure doesn't penalize anyone.
I am begining to think that I am "beating a dead horse" here... Either this poll is in the wrong location or maybe only 65 viewers/voters have strong feelings for this topic. I understand that most clubs didn't run short on funding last season due to the poor winter snowfall amounts in WI. Maybe if the state sees another year like we had 2-3 years ago when the entire state had good snow this topic would be more popular???
David,
I think trying the CAP/STEP again is beating a dead horse. We've been trying this for what, about 8/9 years now. I think the idea is great, but enough already. Maybe the 2 guys pushing this plan in the AWSC need to be replaced.
This is far fetched, but. What is if we registered sleds like we register our vehicles. I pay more for my big truck than I do for my van or car. Maybe a 1100 cc sled should pay more than a 800 cc sled, and a 800 cc sled should pay more than a 600 cc sled, and a 600 cc sled should pay more than the rest of the smaller sleds. It would be similar to vehicle registration. Like I said, far fetched.
I think trying the CAP/STEP again is beating a dead horse. We've been trying this for what, about 8/9 years now. I think the idea is great, but enough already. Maybe the 2 guys pushing this plan in the AWSC need to be replaced.
This is far fetched, but. What is if we registered sleds like we register our vehicles. I pay more for my big truck than I do for my van or car. Maybe a 1100 cc sled should pay more than a 800 cc sled, and a 800 cc sled should pay more than a 600 cc sled, and a 600 cc sled should pay more than the rest of the smaller sleds. It would be similar to vehicle registration. Like I said, far fetched.
I think Wi. is loosing alot of $$ because they let people that live out of state register thier sleds as a resident so they don't need the trail pass, unless that has changed recently. If your primary residence isn't in Wi. you sure shouldn't be able to register your sled as a resident, even if you have a vacation home or whatever there your still not a resident. Again, maybe this has changed and they don't let you get away with it anymore but if so they are loosing atot of $$$ because of it. I know of many people that do this and save $$ but are screwing the trail systems they love to ride!! This is a big loophole that needs to be fixed IMO.
Nytro
Nytro
I live in Illinois, register in Wisconsin and buy Michigan trail stickers for all my sleds whether I ride there or not. I also pay sales tax to Wisconsin for any sled purchased that is registered there as many other folks also do. I don't believe that is "screwing the system"