09/02/2020
Important information. Gov Mills has 10% of club grant money on the chopping block to cover Covid 19 costs.
Update:
Your voices have been heard! We have been contacted by many legistators that the Maine Snowmobile Trail Fund, Capital Equipment Fund and Catastrophic Fund are off the table for cuts. We will be watching this situation closely and will update you again if there are any changes. Thank you all for the quick action.
We Must React Now!
In the wake of the world’s most recent events, we all have some serious ground to make up from the Covid 19 impact on Maine businesses. It is also no surprise that the holes created by this pandemic need be refilled. The snowmobile program SHOULD BE exempt from this because we are a dedicated account. In a recent communication with the program director of the Snowmobile Program at the Maine Dept. of ACF, MSA has learned that the Snowmobile Trail Fund, Capital Equipment Fund and Catastrophic Funds are to be examined for an up to 10% across the board sweep to replenish the coffers snubbed by Covid. In clear down-to-earth terms, are we and our clubs willing to trim all your grants by 10%?
If there ever was a time to support MSA and the movement it carries to the legislature, the time is NOW. The MSA will do what it can, but you need to contact your legislator and Instruct them that a portion of the money collected from registrations are dedicated funds, protected by the Maine Constitution for the grants referenced above. Our legislators will be back in session soon and we need to contact them before they go back.
The MSA has even made it easy for you to contact them. On our website, there is a link on the lower left front page that states exactly how to contact them. Also on the website is a link to our recent Economic Impact Study (Feb. 2020), Those dedicated funds, (user based, self-generated) accounted for $4.8 million dollar investment last year by the Snowmobile Volunteers returned an impact of $606 million for the State of Maine! Please read that again! If you cut from the $4.8 million, the snowmobile volunteers of Maine will not be able to Provide the “product/trails” that riders are accustomed to. The time to act is now. Please call your state representative, state senator and the governor's office with your concerns for our “dedicated funds”.
Janet Mills
