NM State Parks' proposal for a new fee structure has been updated and they want to know what you think. There are info and feedback sessions this week and next. The Albuquerque one is next Monday night from 6 – 7:30 p.m. at the Rio Grande Nature Center, State Park Education Building, 2901 Candelaria Rd., NW.
The initial swing at the new fee schedule seemed to me to have too many small fees and not enough fee increases on out of state campers. It also eliminated the annual camping pass. State Parks have not raised fees in over two decades and they need the money to make park improvements.
After getting feedback from 400 people in-person and over 900 written comments, here are the highlights of the new fees, which to me, seem much more reasonable.
- Primitive camping goes from $8 to &10/night (non residents would pay $15/night).
- Developed camping would go from $10 to $15/night (non residents would pay $20/night).
- Water hookup goes from nothing now to $5 per day, which is reasonable.
- Electric hookup goes from $4/day to $10/day, which is also reasonable.
- Dump station fees would be free to campers, but is $10 if you have not paid for camping.
- The annual caping pass, which was eliminated in the first proposal, would now go from $180 to $300 (discounts for seniors, disabled and military).
Click here to see the full list of meetings. (Expand the Informational Meetings box to see the info).
Read the new proposed fee schedule here.