When the legislative task force ended up with time for some comments from the public this morning, off-road enthusiast Tom Crimmins of Hayden Lake was the first to step to the podium. "I recognize that you have a difficult task and challenge ahead of you - I wish you well," he told the lawmakers. He said recreationists look forward to working with the lawmakers, but they're none too happy. "Beginning in 1963, the recreational community agreed up-front ... that giving out a bunch of $10 and $12 refunds cost the state more than it should," he said. Those were refunds for gas tax paid on gas that never got burned on the roads, because it went into recreational, off-road use for boats, snowmobiles, dirt bikes or other off-road vehicles. So recreationists agreed to pay the tax, as long as the portion they paid was designated for trails. "Now it appears that the Legislature has chosen to renege on their part of the deal," Crimmins told the panel. That puts recreationists in the position of either trying to get that decision reversed - his preference - or asking for their refunds back.

"I understand the Legislature's reluctance to raise fuel taxes in this economic climate," Crimmins told the task force. But if the task force is going to identify new funding sources, "It still appears to be a tax on somebody - it's just a smaller target," he said. Task force Co-Chairman Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, responded, "Frankly, it wasn't my idea to make the transfer the way it's done." But, he said, "The way I read the task force requirements, our job is not to find a funding source for transportation. ... That ship has sailed. Our job is to sort of fill the hole that was created last year."

Crimmins suggested perhaps tapping the sales taxes that are paid on boats and other off-road vehicles and their parts and accessories to replace the trails funding, but Rep. Rich Wills, R-Glenns Ferry, noted that those sales tax proceeds now go to the state's general fund - so the result would be tapping the general fund. "There's already a shortfall," he said. "I guess that's the old adage of robbing Peter to pay Paul." Crimmins said, "If the Legislature chooses not to increase taxes, which is what they did, and now they appoint a committee of eight folks to find a way to increase taxes on a smaller group of folks, that seems to me to be somewhat disingenuous."

Crimmins was followed by four other off-road recreation enthusiasts. Sandra Mitchell of the Idaho State Snowmobile Association told the panel Idahoans treasure their recreational use of public lands, and it boosts not only their qualify of life but also the state's economy. "They took away timber for the most part, they took away mining, but what they left was recreation," the former staffer for then U.S. Sen. Steve Symms told the task force. Recreationists are proud, she said, that "we pay our own way," in part through the gas tax. "We believe it is a fair and equitable use of fuel tax that's burned off-road." Karen Crosby of the Idaho Recreation Council warned that the funds now provide matching money for federal grants that have paid for recreational trails all over the state.