Alabama lawmakers and Governor Robert Bentley are still disagreeing on how to address the General Fund budget shortfall, and state agencies are bracing for the worst.
APR’s Alex AuBuchon reports Alabama’s State Parks are on the chopping block.
If Alabama can’t resolve its budget crisis, fifteen state parks are scheduled to close next month.
State Parks Director Greg Lien says lawmakers want to transfer more than 11 million dollars from Alabama’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to help patch budget holes.
In anticipation of the loss of revenue, two thirds of Alabama’s state parks will close May 1, including Cheaha, Lake Lurleen and Guntersville.
Additional cuts on June 1 will lead to reduced staffing and operational hours at the seven parks remaining open, like Monte Sano and Gulf State Park.
The parks department says the parks staying open have made a consistent profit recently, unlike the fifteen scheduled to close.
A new airline is about to call Alabama home.
Silver Airways will start operating routes between Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International, New Orleans and the Savannah-Hilton Head airport.
The airline will begin operating routes in Birmingham and the Big Easy start June sixteenth. Flights between Alabama and Savannah-Hilton Head begins the following week.
Birmingham Airport Authority President Alfonso Denson says Silver Airways is excited to expand service to Florida and New Orleans. That’s because both are popular destinations for business and leisure travelers.
Silver Airways is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It also travels to the Bahamas.
Local leaders in Panama City, Florida say they’ll be spending the next few months looking at the impact of their Spring Break alcohol ban.
Panama City Beach and Bay County imposed an emergency ban on booze at local beaches and in parking lots. The order expires on Saturday. The ban was imposed late last month following problems with crowd control, crime and other incidents during Spring Break.
Bay County spokesman Valerie Sale says the city council and the county commission are looking at what to do during next year’s spring break.
“Other things that they’re looking at pertain to rules regarding house parties, potentially rules regarding nuisance businesses - or business that require an ordinate amount of law enforcement response.”
Sale also says that rental scooters have caused traffic problems during spring break. Local law enforcement may take action on that next year.