Changes in N.C. budget could mean cuts for parks

MANTEO

Replacing Roanoke Island Festival Park's recently resigned director might be the least of the headaches for the Roanoke Island Commission, the park's administrator.

Two provisions inserted in the House version of the state's proposed budget bill could mean less money for the commission - and more responsibility.

One part of the proposed budget bill would eliminate the transfer of commission funds to the Friends of Elizabeth II, the commission's private nonprofit fundraising arm, and instead transfer any unused cash balance to the state.

But another section of the bill that would move operation, administration and funding of the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Hatteras to the commission in Manteo is even more baffling to some.

"Actually, if we do that, it would cost the state more money," said Joseph Schwarzer, director of the North Carolina Maritime Museum.

Schwarzer, who also is executive director of the Hatteras shipwreck museum, said he does not know why the provision was inserted, or by whom, but he said it makes no sense to separate the state's three museums in Beaufort, Southport and Hatteras. Each interprets the maritime history and culture of their part of the coast.

"I really can't explain it. I have no idea," he said.

Legislators on Tuesday approved a temporary spending bill that allows state agencies to keep spending at 85 percent of the current budget, pushing the June 30 budget deadline back two weeks.

Neither state Sen. Marc Basnight, D-Manteo, nor state Rep. Timothy Spear, D-Cres-well, were consulted about the proposed changes, said Schorr Johnson, Basnight's spokesman.

"We are aware of the concerns and (are) working on fixing it," Johnson wrote in an e-mail Wednesday.

The state Department of Cultural Resources, the agency that oversees the Roanoke Island commission, Festival Park and the maritime museums, was also not consulted, said Jeffrey Crow, deputy secretary of North Carolina Office of Archives and History, a division of Cultural Resources.

Crow said he can only guess that desperate budget writers in Raleigh were grabbing money from wherever it could be found to balance the budget.

"It came as a total shock to us too," he said. "It's a complicated and messy situation that we hope to get fixed."

As it stands now, Crow said, Festival Park is facing a 15 percent budget cut - about $315,000. At the Hatteras museum, three positions for the facility already had been "cannibalized" to pay for its operations shortly after the state took the facility over in 2007, he said, and those funds are not expected to be returned.

"Right now, we just want to get the museum back," Crow said, referring to getting it back under maritime management.

Rolf Blizzard, a Roanoke Island commission member since 2006, said last week that he has been appointed by the governor's office to serve as its new chairman, replacing former chairman Thomas Brooks. The appointment was effective June 26, he said.

Blizzard said that he is still trying to decipher what the impact of the provisions in the proposed budget could be on Festival Park.

In May, Blizzard expressed concern about the practice of funds being transferred from the commission to the Friends of Elizabeth II without the commission voting on it.

As chairman, Blizzard said, his priority will be making all the commission's business open and transparent, including its financial relationship with the nonprofit.

"I think it's an opportunity for the Friends to explain why they do what they do," he said. "I think it's a win-win. I just believe it's the right thing to do."

Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com