I'm sure a factor in the WSDOT keeping that the Mt Baker hwy and Crystal Mtn Blvd open is the $5-7 per person per visit in sales tax revenue from lift ticket sales (more if you buy a beer) At the park the it is a $10 per car load entrance fee, unless you are a frequent visitor and pay $30 for an annual pass, but if you are over 62 a lifetime park pass is $10
Also the parking lots at Mt Baker and Crystal are several times larger than the lot at Paradise -- so the total amount of sales tax revenue for the state is much much higher each weekend they manage to keep the road open -- if it's closed the state doesn't make that revenue.
With the parks fee structure -- their total revenue isn't as severely effected when they can't open the road -- If skiers were charged $10 per person for each visit and they replaced the Longmire gate with a fee booth -- they would have more incentive to keep the road open.
Thanks for the tax details, Randy. I'm sure you're right about the financial incentives for the State.
The Paradise parking lots can take half the plowing time after a big snowfall, so the larger Baker lots would seem to reinforce the point I was trying to make about the far greater efficiency of the DOT crews. Plus, they do it 24/7 while their road is open to the public! What's really amazing is how much better winter drivers and backcountry decision-makers Mt Baker's customers apparently are, compared to us 'southerners'.
The experience of the folks at Hurricane Ridge contributing many tens of thousands of dollars makes me doubt these weekday National Park closures have much to do with financial incentive. Maybe Rainier's management would be incentivized if their funding was tied to their visitor numbers. Ten percent fewer visitors? Sorry, ten percent fewer bucks for you next year...
