Georgia turns to private help with state parks

Amicalola Falls ($602,380) ($453,888) ($154,926) ($91,116) ($202,522)

George T. Bagby ($635,042) ($512,963) ($335,219) ($332,983) ($340,397)

Georgia Veterans* ($153,498) ($97,709) $19,180 ($30,671) ($54,288)

Little Ocmulgee ($542,753) ($543,641) ($345,296) ($499,764) ($340,504)

Unicoi ($133,633) ($389,849) ($151,842) $180,349 $216,805

*Park operation only (does not include lodge or golf course)

Golf courses

Profit/Loss FY 2008 FY 2009 FY 2010 FY 2011 FY 2012

George T. Bagby Golf Course ($270,028) ($265,388) ($152,736) ($268,919) ($245,491)

Little Ocmulgee Golf Course ($100,407) ($36,310) ($10,764) ($187,099) ($158,517)

Some of Georgia’s most popular playgrounds will be put under private management this summer, part of a wider effort to stem the effects of severe state budget cuts and money-losing ventures.

By July 1, five Georgia state parks will become the state’s first wholly operated by a private company, although all five remain the property of the Peach State and funded by taxpayers.

The result for the public, at least in the short term, may include fees for popular programs — many of which are now free — as the company tries to turn around financial losses. The company may decide to increase how many programs are offered, although no immediate changes have been announced. There also could be more profit-friendly moves, such as a merchandise cart selling cold water halfway up the hike to Amicalola Falls.

In the long term, those who love and protect the parks hope it turns around a rough several years as the recession pulverized the state budget. Yet some people worry that taking these parks out of government hands might change their essential character.

It follows a decision by the state Department of Natural Resources last year to allow more of its properties to be privately managed, including the popular Amicalola Falls State Park, visited by 500,000 people a year for its pristine 829-acre forest and the highest waterfall east of the Mississippi River.

The other parks involved are North Georgia’s Unicoi, George T. Bagby in Fort Gaines, Little Ocmulgee in Helena and Georgia Veterans in Cordele, where a state-owned resort and golf club was already privately managed.

The company, Florida-based Coral Hospitality, late last year took over lodge operations at Amicalola Falls and Unicoi with the transition ongoing to include park operations, and the contract also includes taking over operations of state-owned golf courses at Bagby and Little Ocmulgee.

Coral Hospitality is not new to Georgia. It has operated the state-owned Lake Blackshear Retreat and Golf Club at Georgia Veterans State Park since 2003 and the Brasstown Valley Resort & Spa in Young Harris since 2005.

State officials say the park system has to be creative after at least five rounds of layoffs, a hiring freeze and the loss of nearly half its state funding.

The state division in charge of Georgia’s parks, recreation and historic sites includes 64 parks and historic sites, seven golf courses and five lodges — all five “lodge parks” are included in the private management plan.

“Our toolbox is limited to really make these facilities thrive,” said Georgia state parks director Becky Kelley, who has been widely lauded for her handling of the financial swoon. While park systems in other states were forced to shutter sites, Georgia’s state system has managed to keep its parks open despite reductions in services and hours.

That effort has benefited park users such as Robert Snelgrove of Ellijay, who fishes with his son Alex at Amicalola Falls’ trout pond at least 12 times a year.

While reeling in dinner Thursday, Snelgrove indicated he did not know the park was changing management. His priority was keeping access to activities like fishing at the pond with his son.

Kelley does not know of similar private management arrangements in other states. Instead, she looks at it as a way of “testing new models and trying new partnerships,” she said. “We’re all in a position where we take very seriously the challenges we have in state government so that 10, 20, 50 years down the line, these (parks) are still assets that can continue to be here,” she said.

Many of the people worried about the change are “boots on the ground” volunteers, who spend thousands of hours in the state’s parks every year weed-whacking overgrown trails, picking up trash and raising thousands of dollars to stripe parking lots and repair washed-out paths.

“I and other volunteers like me are here because we are passionate about this place and what it offers people,” said Kathy Brigman, a local retiree who for the past four years has been president of the Friends of Amicalola Falls State Park.

The group in the last fiscal year alone raised more than $58,000 for the park, helping in part to pay for infrastructure repairs the state can no longer afford. Their volunteer hours also have stretched past 6,000 a year. Brigman wants the transition to private management to be successful but is concerned with “the direction and speed at which the department is moving,” she said. People in the group aren’t yet clear about their role once the company takes over.

The transfer of control also means changes to employees’ benefits and jobs — one of the biggest cost savings Coral Hospitality will find as it takes over. On paper, according to state records, 70 out of 71 employees at Amicalola were offered a new job with Coral as part of the transition — meaning they will no longer be employed by the state.

But in reality, the park is losing several of its most passionate workers who did not take the new jobs. Ranger and Park Manager Matt Owens and his family, who live next to the Amicalola Falls State Park visitors center, will leave. Owens will remain a state employee and is being transferred to another park.

“One of our concerns is the continued safety and security of guests, staff and volunteers and the loss of traditional ranger staff at this site,” Brigman said.

Coral Hospitality’s new contract with the state pays it a fixed fee — 3.25 percent on gross revenue — to operate the five parks, with any profits going back into state coffers.

Bill Donohue, executive director of the North Georgia Mountains Authority, which oversees the contract, noted the company had a stabilizing effect on the properties it already operated including Lake Blackshear, which had been losing almost $1 million a year.

Coral Hospitality specializes in operating resorts, hotels, golf clubs and residential communities both nationally and in the Caribbean. It has never before, however, tried to run a state park. Georgia officials hope that turns out to be a good thing, with the company bringing a fresh perspective. Company officials hope so, too, although they are starting with soft expectations.

“The promise isn’t necessarily we’re going to turn them into gold,” Coral Hospitality CEO Lee Weeks said of the venture. The company, he said, wants to reduce losses, create profits whenever possible and be good stewards. “The change for the public should be little or nothing. All of the things that took place before will be evaluated, and we will work to make it better or, at least, comparable.”