They never thought their vacation plans would get caught in the middle of the state's financial mess. With the state facing an $8 billion budget gap, the governor is recommending closing dozens of state parks. Lots of people have been very upset about the plan, including one man from Canastota who just found out his summer plans will now have to change.
Robert McCarthy planned to take his summer vacation at Keewaydin State Park near Alexandria Bay in Jefferson County. He made his reservation for a weekend this coming August.
McCarthy said, "We made them far enough out because Keewaydin is a very popular park. It's always full and its hard to get in there so you have to make early reservations."
But this week he got an email from the state telling him he'd have to make other plans. His reservations are cancelled because of the state budget crunch.
"The budget hasn't even been voted on yet and here's my reservation being cancelled," McCarthy said.
He even received his refund already. "I'm hoping this is a mistake. Someone from New York State notified them prematurely and we can recoup the reservations."
McCarthy goes camping up north every summer with a group of friends and they've had to scramble to make other plans in the meantime.
"We got this email and within 2-3 days, the parks that I know are open were booked full," said McCarthy.
He says parks like Keewayden, Chittenango Falls, Fort Ontario all bring in valuable money to their communities and he thinks there has to be a better solution..
"There's got to be something else you can do. Raise the rates if you're not making enough money, raise the rates. I wouldn't mind paying a little bit more."
Calls made to the state's director of camping and also the campsite to ask why the reservations are already being cancelled but their offices were closed Sunday.
