Is there a link showing where the environmental lobby killed the ATV trail fund or was the money just used elsewhere?

 

I just googled New York State regarding ATVs:

1. All ATV registration fees are collected into the general fund. There are no funds legislated for ATV trails, never have been.

2. The former ATV trail fee designation has been changed to ATV registration. Non-registered ATVs operated on any place but self-owned private property will eventually be cited for lack of registration.

3. No ATV may be ridden on other than your own property without automobile insurance liability limits.

4. 5,447,000 ATVs were sold in the US from 2000 through 2005. Even dividing that number by 50 states produces only 108,940 ATVs in NY for that period. Double that for the past ten years and that's still only 217,880 ATVs in NY, probably a generous number when compared to 272,779 registered motorcycles in a state with a population of 19-million, half of that population in one city (I can't imagine ATVs in Central park).

I just don't see the numbers, particularly with the poor public image ATVs have, to make ATV trails a viable political issue in NY, especially in a declining economy. While it might have once been theoretically feasible at a county level, NY has now suborned ATVs to state legislation of motor vehicles, eliminating that possibility.

 

The environmentalists are a very powerful lobby in NY. Something that someone who actually lives here (not on another coast) would know.

They have tried to kill it at the county level (this is one of the counties that would have been part of a state trail system for sure):
http://www.syracuse.com/news/poststa...030.xml&coll=1

There was never a trail fund but they were supposed to establish one and DID NOT. There were proposals that were withdrawn.
http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/e...aft031605.html

There were laws on the books to establish a fund. Those laws were later repealed.
Note the text (full text available at the link below, the part quoted was removed from the law in 2006 when they couldn't come to a conclusion about setting up the trail system. They never gave a reason but it is widely known that the envrionmental lobby killed it).
http://www.nysorva.org/legislation/ATVFundRepealer.htm
NYS has been stealing ATV registration fees for 20 years. They aren't going to stop. However many people in NY have stopped registering their ATVs at all or have registered them in PA, which has a trail system.

 

And by the way, I agree that it is not a viable political issue.

I personally could care less. I have permission to ride on private land in a few places. There are five parks where I can pay to ride within 3 hours of my home. The fantastic trail system in PA is just about 2 hours from me.

However the politicians have been screwing us for years and people need to be aware.

 

As an old bean counter, we called those reserve accounts. They were, as required, tapped for other purposes. Unless a formal operating budget has been established with committed funding, it remains part of the general fund to be used at the discretion of senior management. With no significant political obstacles (ATV lobby), any legislative body will impose taxes in the form of registration. Trail fund sounds good, but with declining revenues due to federal greed, it saves steps by making it a pure tax with under 1% of the population as an obstacle.

 

Good show. From a fiscal point of view, if I was a PA resident, I'd be asking my political reps why there wasn't premium tax revenue from non-residents using my resources. If they said the tax revenue from gas, food and other roadside services were enough I'd consider them a little slow while pointing out NY's lack of resources. Then suggest they use residency as a PA ATV registration factor with non-residents paying a significant premium for registration to pay for using my highways, law enforcement and air. Any politician seeks politically acceptable means to increase revenue. We're in a global society which should extend down to states rights.

 

PA has some good public trail systems, and you pay to ride those. The trails ajd and I usually ride are private owned/private business. A huge majority of their business is NY residents. I think if they charged differently for out of staters, that would hurt business because it would then be cheaper to just ride locally. Thanks to Trailpass there are finally some trails in our area that are decent and accessible. It has taken them a while but they are getting there, lol. The thing is, NY has plenty of land and even some organizations trying to open up access and maintain trails. Resources aren't the problem, it is greedy politicians and wacko lobbyists that are the problem.

 

Geez buddy, I hope that no one from PA reads this and also jumps on the "gouge NYS ATV riders" bandwagon. But honestly I too thought that PA would charge more too to out-of-staters. I believe, not 100% sure, that at one time they did not recognize NYS registration and required you to get a PA reg.

AJD, riding 3 hours to a riding area is just too far for me. Not to say I don't do it though, I just don't like it. I know a lot of us here go to Majestic, Copperridge, the dice runs in the souther tier/PA. I just went for the first time a month ago to a PA trail, Timberline. Incredible. Maybe half the trail is groomed to interstate highway standards. Real wide, hard packed, graded. Never saw anything like it and you could fly through there, top gear throttle pinned. Even the woods type trails were well groomed. All that for $10 a day, $30 a season