7306-R3_SS_Sep2020_MESnowmobiler

2 September 2020 Maine Snowmobiler

Maine’s Snowmobile Funding Dodges the First Blow By John Monk, Chairman, MSA Steering Committee monksdoomopars@hermon.net

Most of you probably saw recently through MSA communi- cation as well as many websites of a possible sweep of funding for our program. It was truly factual and communicated to us that the governor did ask the DAFC to look at a possible 10% budget cut for the next budget cycle. We can’t express enough the thanks we would like to offer to all of you that communicated with your legislators of how our money gets allocated. An over- whelmingly amount of constitu- ents reported back and stated “I did not know that”. This resulted in exactly what should happen when you communicate with the ones that were elected to handle these issues. We truly believe that the immediate alarm and flurry of passionate riders curtailed that thought in a big hurry. It also now confirms that MSA/ORV pro- grams could not have planned the Economic Impact Study reveal in anymore of a timely fashion. While we are not even close to being out of the woods in the big picture, we seemed to have kicked the can further down the road. During these idle times, please continue to stay on your game and use this “Legislative Rain Delay” to educate your new incoming representatives that this is a strong passionate group that love what we do and will not lay down to a sweep of the funds. This industry is truly operates off “self-gener- ated logic” and should we cease it; the income output would be horrific. At the end of the day, The State of Maine is who wins the most with the least invested. (Except maybe the “Miles for Smiles”, where we totally got this nailed) Speaking of funding, in 2015 the MSA did support legislation to increase registration fees. The outcome was successful and as demonstrated by the wealth of data generated by ORV program, snowmobiling has adequately been functioning. At that time the Maine Legislature asked, “How soon before we see you back again”? In our plan, we had cho- sen to revisit this in five years. Guess where we are folks!

MSA is planning to stay on schedule and roll (or ZOOM, pun intended) into Augusta this fall with a unified plan for a registra- tion increase in the upcoming leg- islative session. As you can imag- ine, this will offer a whole new host of processes especially with the legislature on an untimely vacation. As mentioned, our goal is to come in with a plan that is best as possible, reasonable, func- tional, and clearly defined but includes everyone’s input. HERE’S YOUR HOMEWORK MSA has asked all clubs to sub- mit on their club letterhead to the MSA before NOVEMBER 1st their thoughts of what you feel would be a good funding proposal. All will be added to a spread sheet and discussed in the best way pos- sible with a single proposal to be brought forward. These discus- sions have been ongoing for over a year now and MSAwas in hopes to have this all done at our meet- ings this fall. Due to gathering concerns, we will now try using this procedure. Currently on the table is a base proposal that has been aired with reasonable positive response from clubs that have already responded. Ten dollar increase to residents to include five dollars directly to the Snowmobile Trail Fund and five dollars directly to the Capital Equipment Fund. Twenty dollar increase to non-residents to include ten dol- lars directly to the Snowmobile Trail Fund and 10 dollars directly to the Capital Equipment Fund. For added info, the STF is the pot that all grants to the clubs for doing their general trail and groomer maintenance are allo- cated from. This, in our eyes would be considered as your yearly funding if your club has a club or municipal grant. The CEG is the fund that funds all new/used purchases for grooming equip- ment and has not been increased since its inception in 1998. This category clearly has not kept pace with the increased cost of groom- ing equipment. The MSA would also like to add that our outside neighbors do take a bit of a bigger hit here. We have quietly watched

other venues to ride and clearly we are the most cost effective option available with what resources are provided. We believe our fees still continue to offer the most with the least hassle and hope that you would agree. Please feel free to weigh in so your voice is heard! But, please be a member of a

Maine club. MSA would kindly ask all the clubs and projects to not take this lightly. Please have open discus- sion at your meetings and give us your honest feedback. We recog- nize that any increase in these try- ing times is difficult to consider, but the more people we keep in

the game, the less load that will have to be carried by all. Remember, NOVEMBER 1st deadline. As always, thanks for the con- tinued level of volunteerism and please be safe, John Monk

Octoberber MSA Directors Meeting Tuesday, October 20, 2020 Ossipee Mountaineers Snowmobile Club, East Waterboro Executive Committee meeting will be held on Thursday, October 15 th at 6:30 pm via GoToMeeting. Please watch your email for login information MSA Directors Meeting - Tuesday, October 20, 2020 at 6:30 pm At the Ossipee Mountaineers Snowmobile Club Located at 275 Old Alfred Rd, East Waterboro, ME 04030 Due to the current Covid-19 restrictions, a meal will not be served. Please RSVP to the office at 207-622-6983 or msa@ mesnow.com as space is limited.

MSA Directors Pot O Gold At the August Directors meeting, the Barnstormers Snowmobile Club from Hallowell was drawn for the MSA Pot O Gold. No MSA director being present, the prize was forfeited.