To the editor:
I served 12 years in the Maine legislature and sponsored the snowmobile laws that are on the books today. I will appreciate it very much if you will take a look at the concerns I have if L.D. 633 is passed. I bought my first two snowmobiles in 1965 for $500 each. I continued to own snowmobiles until 2005. I have belonged to the Maine Snowmobile Association since it began and recently became a member of the Snowmobile Hall of Fame. On Jan. 7, 1967 I helped create the first snowmobile club in the state of Maine.
We Aroostook County landowners and snowmobile clubs, partly because of snow conditions, over the last 40 years by providing both the land and most of the labor — free — have played a key roll in creating a $350 million annual snowmobile industry for the state of Maine. Without the generosity of thousands of landowners and club members this could not have been done.
With all the money brought into the state of Maine by the snowmobile industry it has still been very hard to get enough money from the state to help groom the snowmobile trails. After being told that L.D. 633, an Act to Improve Funding for the State Snowmobile Trail System, was introduced by MSA, I have to express my opinion as to why I believe L.D. 633 should not pass.
First I believe MSA has a great conflict of interest. MSA gets $12 for every membership that belongs to a snowmobile club. It is estimated by MSA that 20,000 families belong to MSA and 30,000 do not. If you pass L.D. 633 and MSA gets $12 each for the 30,000 that join clubs, MSA will get $360,000.
I am sure that many would like you to believe that snowmobilers who don’t belong to a club do not pay anything toward maintaining the trail system. The money used to help maintain trails comes from registrations. Those that do not belong to a club pay the same amount to register their snowmobiles as we club members. They pay the same gas tax and sales tax to the state as we do. I am sure that if L.D. 633 is passed it will eliminate both registration and tax from going to the state.
I am sure that MSA would like you to believe that because of their numbers, legislators have a better chance to be reelected if they support their L.D.633. Please don’t forget that the 30,000 non-members also vote.
To buy a good snowmobile today it costs $6,000 to $10,000. For a couple it is $12,000 to $20,000. To fill two snowmobiles today with gas will cost at least $60 and would take the couple somewhere between 100 and 150 miles depending on what kind of snowmobile they have. It does not seem reasonable to add to their financial burden at this time.
A very large percentage of our trails are on private land. Passing a law that requires thousands of private landowners to join a club or pay a much higher fee to ride on the trails that they have donated could result in losing some of the trail system.
Former state senator
Washburn
