BELSANO, Pa. – The Cambria County Conservation & Recreation Authority has an operating deficit of about $11,000, Executive Director Cliff Kitner said at Friday’s meeting.
The shortfall was expected due to operational costs, he said, and should be covered by reserve funds, but the issue opened a discussion on the authority’s finances and the price of maintaining trails once built.
“If you look at our budget, this is the first time, I think, we’ve been in the negative in a budget since I’ve been here,” Kitner said. “But we knew we were going to be this year.”
The plan is to “run in the red” until the late spring and early summer when reimbursements for the CPV Rogue’s Wind farm at the Rock RunRecreation Area ATV park should begin. That work is expected to wrap up in 2026.
Kitner said that despite being able to cover the deficit with other accounts, he doesn’t want to rely on that avenue.
“We have enough money in reserves to make it. I just don’t want to blow the reserves,” he said.
Kitner added that once the wind farm money starts to be deposited, they “can’t go backward.”
“We still have a lot more things we could do for the communities in making this place better,” he said. “I’ve got so much trail I could build. We just don’t because we don’t have the money to do it right now.”
One of the authority’s most significant struggles and costs is maintenance on its trails – the Ghost Town Trail, Jim Mayer Riverswalk Trail and Path of the Flood Trail.
Kitner has championed this issue for years and said at the meeting it costs $3,500 per mile on average to maintain a path, which works out to nearly $200,000 for the CCCRA’s 56 miles.
With a $200,000 annual budget, that rate of upkeep isn’t possible, although maintenance specialists Alex Cruley and Vincent Heiss do their best, he said.
In the past year, the authority has raised $130,000 in donations, Kitner said, and receives $218,931 from Cambria County annually, but that still doesn’t cover the need.
That’s why he’s turned to the state for assistance. He addressed the matter at a recent Pedalcycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, on which he serves as a member.
Kitner said he spoke with officials during the gathering about two ideas he’s had for developing a trail maintenance fund, which seemingly had potential.
One concept he’s pitched is a user or registration fee for electric bicycles.
Kitner argues that every other type of vehicle in the state – all-terrain vehicles, cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats and recreation vehicles – have to be registered, so why not e-bikes?
He identified e-bikes because of the machines’ increased use on trails.
If a fund were created, Kitner proposed the dollars raised be put into an account that could be distributed to trails groups throughout the state, similar to Pennsylvania’s Municipal Liquid Fuels Program, which helps municipalities with construction, maintenance and repair of public roadways.
The other idea he’s developed is working dedicated maintenance funding into grant awards for building paths.
Kitner said the proposal would place that additional portion into an interest-bearing account that could be used in perpetuity to maintain paths once constructed.
“We’re alternate transportation,” he said. “Obviously we’re important.
“We’re a $19 billion industry … Why don’t we get state funding like everybody else gets state funding?”
According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the outdoor industry in the commonwealth contributed $19 billion to Pennsylvania in the past year. That’s a 10% increase since 2022.
Kitner said he’s addressing these matters because as the CCCRA’s operations expand, costs will too.
In a related matter, authority board member Heath Long said the CCCRA economic development committee has discussed creating sponsorships for the mile markers on the trails.
“The thought was to put a placard below the mile marker that would have their business name and whatever logo they’d want,” he said.
That could be accomplished through local businesses that benefit from trail use or individuals.
Board member Rick Bloom said that a neighboring trails group uses a slip-cover style of placard for mile markers that seems to be successful.
Long said they could begin with the Ghost Town Trail and see how it goes.
For more information about the CCCRA or to donate, visit www.cambriaconservationrecreation.com.