From MSA Website

There will be a $1 million short fall in the Michigan Snowmobile Trail Improvement Fund for the 2009-10 season. That harsh reality has led MSA to ask that legislators approve a trail permit fee increase.

MSA would like to first assure you that Michigan snowmobile trails will be groomed to the standards you have become accustomed to during the upcoming 2008-09 season. There is adequate funding in the Michigan Trail Improvement Fund to groom this season. However, grooming beyond this season is in serious jeopardy.

The cold, hard truth is that the 2008-09 season will be the last season for the smooth trails you have come to count on in Michigan if a trail permit increase is not approved by state legislators before the end of this legislative session in mid-December. Revenue from our trail permits and registrations is not keeping pace with the rising costs to groom and maintain our more than 6,500 miles of snowmobile trails.

We did everything we could last year to make sure there was a funding carry over for this season’s grooming. We knew there wasn’t enough money coming in to keep pace with spending, so we worked hard to make sure we had a fund balance to carry over this year. We have “starved” the program to the point that we just can’t do it any longer. The endless cycle of cutting to carry over money for the following season is going to result in major problems

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