ATV Trail Budget Increase

[Dave]

Proposal would increase funding for ATV recreation.

Minnesota ATV enthusiasts may get a big boost in state aid. A new study says more gas tax revenue should go to trails and enforcement programs.

David Shaffer, Star Tribune

State spending on all-terrain-vehicle recreation would increase 75 percent to $1.4 million a year if a new formula for allocating gasoline tax revenue is approved by the Legislature.

Minnesota has dedicated since 1984 a portion of the 20-cent-per-gallon gas tax to ATV programs, including trail construction and maintenance and law enforcement. The formula is based on an estimate of how much gas is used by recreational ATV riders.

Now, a study ordered by the Legislature has found that ATV riders purchase an estimated 7 million gallons of gasoline a year for recreational riding. That's 0.27 percent of all pump sales, up from 0.15 percent estimated in 1984, the study found. If the new formula becomes law, revenue for ATV programs would increase $600,000 a year, state officials said.

Riders support spending more money on trails, education and enforcement, said Dave Hendricks, president of the All-Terrain Vehicle Association of Minnesota. The state Department of Natural Resources, which helped with the study, also supports the idea, said Laurie Martinson, director of the DNR trails and waterways division.

The proposed increase will face scrutiny by several House and Senate committees. One issue is how much should be spent policing and repairing existing trails versus building new ones.

One ATV critic, Matt Norton, a staff attorney for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, said he fears the money will fund a vast expansion of the ATV trails system, even though existing routes have many environmental and law enforcement issues.

ATV Fuel Study

Now is the time for ATV owners, no matter how much you use the ATV, to call or write your state representatives and ask to support the increase. More enforcement on the trails benefit everyone.