good news for iowa snowmobilers

The last few years have been rough for Iowa snowmobilers. Besides suffering from two miserable winters, the Iowa legislature transferred nearly $1 million dollars last year in state snowmobile program reserves.

The Iowa State Snowmobile Association (ISSA) finally has some good news for 2003. History did not repeat itself. The $800,000 in new snowmobile registration dollars collected in the fall of 2002 will remain in the program instead of covering shortfalls elsewhere in the state's budget. Roughly 40 percent of the money will go toward the purchase of three new groomers.

"Our main concern was to get that money out of the account and spent by the end of the state's fiscal year budget so the legislators didn't come back after it again," ISSA President Jerry Kramer said.

While the Iowa State Legislature didn't take valuable snowmobile dollars this year, it also didn't reimburse the state snowmobile program for its actions of 2002. Three bills were introduced to recover the money, but none came into action, the ISSA said.

"It's pretty hard to get nothing from nothing," ISSA Vice President Terry Durby said. "But we have to keep it in front of their faces."

Both Durby and Kramer serve on the ISSA Emergency Funding Committee, a task force that was created after the money was taken to work on legislation to recapture lost funds. The committee hired a Des Moines area law firm to serve as the organization's lobbyist, which has been instrumental in getting other snowmobile-friendly legislation introduced this year.