After all, the lawmakers passed a no-new-taxes budget over the governor's veto, a budget that used one-time tobacco settlement money to pay recurring bills and left the cutting to the governor.
Legislators didn't want to get their hands dirty with helping determine which programs to spare and which to cut or eliminate.
Reaction to the cuts shows how difficult it is to trim the state budget, even by a modest $110 million. It is about as difficult as approving meaningful tax reform of some kind in Tennessee.
However, while there were pockets of reaction to most of the cuts, the decision to close state parks either partially or completely brought widespread criticism, meetings with legislators and, in at least one case, talk of a lawsuit against the state.
The parks are popular with Tennessee's citizens and with visitors from other states. The parks put the state's best foot forward for tourism and public relations, and that is worth far more through intangible benefits than the anticipated $3.5 million in savings that would come from closing the parks.
Last year, the Legislature included a provision in the budget prohibiting park closings, but there was no such item in the current budget.
Enter state Sen. Randy McNally, who recently said he is ready to file legislation forbidding closing of the parks without approval of the Legislature. McNally also said he has asked for an opinion from the state attorney general on the validity of the park closings ordered by Gov. Don Sundquist.
As McNally, an Oak Ridge Republican, noted, "It doesn't make a lot of sense ... that we are closing them and saving about $3 million and losing far greater amounts in sales tax revenues."
The state also is losing federal money with the park closings and possibly could lose more if the parks do not reopen in a timely manner.
Thus far, the closings have cost the state $715,000 in federal funding, including money designated for the Cumberland Trail, a project that will stretch 283 miles from Cumberland Gap to the Tennessee River Gorge.
About 114 miles of the trail have been completed.
Of the 14 Tennessee parks scheduled for full or partial closure, nine have received money from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund with the stipulation that those parks remain open to the public.
Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe, a former state senator, also supports legislation to reopen the parks. Ashe, who chairs the U.S. Conference of Mayors' Park Committee, said losing the federal money in the name of saving the $3.5 million "underlines the stupidity of that decision" to close the parks.
Thomas Ross, assistant director for recreation and conservation for the National Park Service, said his agency will remain in close contact with Tennessee park officials and that no deadline has been set for additional sanctions.
"We need to see a plan that indicates specifically when all these parks will be reopened," he said.
State officials said they are hopeful they can negotiate with the National Park Service to restore the federal funds or that lawmakers will resolve the current fiscal crisis bringing new money to the state's coffers and making the loss of federal funds moot.
With only five weeks left in the current year, that is not likely to happen. The best alternative is McNally's legislation, and lawmakers should make that a priority when the Legislature convenes in January.
Copyright 2001 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.
November 23, 2001