Nansen Ski Jump in Milan, N.H., once the largest of its kind, got a half-a-million-dollar federal grant to restore the behemoth structure.
While that sounds like a worthwhile use of money, the state of New Hampshire owns and manages the jumping facility as a state park. Why are taxpayers in the other 49 states paying for it?
This is a great example of why congressional earmarks were banned for a decade and Tom Coburn called earmarks, “the currency of corruption in Congress.”
Built in 1936, the ski jump was the largest of its time and since fell into a state of disrepair.
The $500,000 secured by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen as a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee as part of the $1.5 trillion spending bill will be used for “repairing structural issues with the historic jump’s aging infrastructure,” according to The Berlin Sun.
Besides being a state facility, the jump is overseen by the Friends of Big Nansen Ski Jump, who have been working for more than five years to renovate the jump so it can be safely used for sanctioned jumping competitions, The Sun reported.
The ski club must match the $500,000 grant and said it will be difficult to raise the funds.
Subsidizing a ski club’s jump isn’t a sound way to use taxpayer money, especially if the people using it can’t solicit enough interest to pay for half of it.
The #WasteOfTheDay is presented by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.
Originally published by RealClearPolicy. Republished with permission.
More great content from Budget & Tax News