Should all of Nebraska's 87 state parks and recreation areas remain open?

That's a question the director of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission wants lawmakers to consider in light of another $3.6 million in budget cuts over the next two years.

"We have to make a decision whether we want to run 30 parks really well or 87 parks all mediocre," Rex Amack said Friday in a hearing before the Legislature's Appropriations Committee.

The hearing was part of the special session Gov. Dave Heineman called to address a $334 million shortfall in the state's two-year budget.

Game and Parks has a $58.2 million budget, 80 percent of which is derived from cash funds. The funds consist of permit fees on hunters, anglers and park users. Those funds, in turn, qualify the state for matching federal funds for fish and wildlife habitat restoration.

The rest of the budget, about $11.6 million, comes from the state's general fund. Most of the general fund money goes to parks.

On Friday, Pat Cole, the commission's budget administrator, presented senators with a way to meet the governor's proposal to cut the agency's budget by $1.2 million this year and $2.4 million next year.

The commission's proposal seeks a deeper cut to the general fund appropriation in exchange for increased authority to spend cash funds.

If the governor's across-the-board cut were adopted, the commission would lose out on $1 million to $3 million in federal matching funds, Cole said. The federal money comes from excise taxes on firearms, ammunition and fishing equipment.

State law protects the commission's cash funds for fish and wildlife. So they could not be moved to the general fund, as the governor has suggested doing with check-off accounts funded by farmers and ranchers.

Amack told senators the agency sold 1.4 million hunting, fishing and park permits last year, so outdoor recreation is clearly important to Nebraskans.

During the budget approved by senators last session, the agency voluntarily cut $5 million. It did so by forfeiting 21 positions that had been left unfilled and by sharply reducing services at many state parks and recreation areas.

A total of 504 employees remain at the agency.

The director said he's concerned further cuts to park maintenance would come with risks to public safety.

"People go to a state park and they have expectations," Amack said. "We're not meeting them."

Reach Joe Duggan at 473-7239 or jduggan@journalstar.com.