A chicken Bar-B-Q fundraiser is being held soon, see events page for details.
To keep up on other snowmobile related items through out the year also visit the NYSSA Website at www.nyssnowassoc.org there is a huge amount of info here and also many message boards to read.
For anyone needing to register for the 2008-2009 season, new vouchers are available now. Use snail mail or join online, see below.
If anyone needs to join and get a voucher, but can not wait for the snail mail, please go to the following link and you can join online with a credit or debit card. www.nyssnowassoc.org , this will bring you to the State Snowmobile Association web site, scroll down just a little you will see a blue box reading join a club online here. click on that and follow the direction, when done you will be able to print your voucher off and use it at dmv. The rest of your club things will come in the mail in the future. Hope this is helpful to anyone needing it.
Everyone has got to remember one very, very important thing, ALL landowners make every club snowmobile trail possible. When the chance presents itself, thank a landowner. With out them we would have no where to ride. The club officers will take this time to say THANK YOU to all our landowners!
Important update on below subject, at the end of notice! For everyone who doesn't already know, or needs a reminder here is some important info about NYS snowmobiling. All clubs across the state depend on the trail grant fund to keep the clubs going. This fund is made up of money from registrations. This is the fund that we beg everyone to register by Dec.1st every year so we can get the money we need for trails and get it in a timely fashion. The grant is given out in a 70% check and a final 30% check. The 70% check is supposed to be out by Nov.1st, the 30% should be out by spring each season. Last seasons 30% check came to our county in Jan. of this season. This seasons 70% check is not here yet, and we don't even know how many miles we are getting approved for or how much per mile we are getting this season. This system like many others in NY is badly broken. When the bank comes knocking on the door for the groomer, the officers are the ones who have to deal with this. I have drafted a letter and sent it out personally already to our local elected state officials, and the leaders of the senate and assembly as well as the governor. I am going to post this letter on our site here for everyone to be able to use if they don't want to type up there own letter. We need to have this system fixed, and not tomorrow. There is a high probability that there will be less clubs across NYS next year due to the lack of funds to be available to run the clubs. This situation is becoming a critical on at this time and we need to do something to change that. The lack of action from begging to reg. by 12-1 of each year is going to show in a very bad way. The snowmobile trail fund has got to have the funds in it to maintain the level of spending we have gotten in the past, this is part of the problem, with people not registering until after the cut off the fund shrinks drastically. A snowmobile registration is good from Sept.1st to Aug.31st. If you register in Jan you only get 8 months for you $45.00, If you reg in Sept. you get 12 months for $45.00. Why anyone would want to get less for the same price is beyond me. The only thing that is happing is the trail fund across NYS is suffering. Now where all the money goes after the cut off date of Dec.1st is something that state officials need to look into, that's part of what the letter is intended to do. We need to have as many people as possible send a letter of some sort to the state officials. Actions are spurred by numbers, as we have learned in the past, we all have the numbers we just need a little cooperation state wide and we can make a difference, a difference that will benefit every snowmobiler across NYS.
Senator Hugh T Farley, Assemblyman George Amedore, Feb. 10th, 2008 Senate Leaders, Assembly Leaders, and the Governor,
To whom it should all concern;
Winter recreation is a very large part of NYS. Many areas across New York State depend on winter recreation for needed sales tax revenue. With winter in many places being warmer than in the past and with less snow fall as in the past, the winter recreation and tourism season is many times shortened. Snowmobiling in NYS is a multi-million dollar industry; this is a fact that can not be disputed! Snowmobile clubs all across NYS are made up of volunteer?s who work very hard to insure safe places to ride from destination to destination. It is the volunteer clubs who handle getting landowner permission to utilize private property for snowmobile trails. Its is the volunteer club members who fill out grant applications as they are called, for the snowmobile trail fund here in NYS. This fund is made up of monies collected at the time of snowmobile registrations at a local DMV office. For a club member who registers their snowmobiles the cost is $45.00. $35.00 of this fee goes into the snowmobile trail grant fund. The remanded goes to NYS DMV. Non-club members pay $100.00 of which $90.00 goes into the trail fund. The balance goes to NYS DMV. These monies that are collected into this snowmobile trail grant fund are used for several things. First off, NYS parks and Rec. utilizes a percentage of this fund for administration purposes. NYS law enforcement monies come out to aid in snowmobile law enforcement. What is left of the fund for the current season is divided out to all clubs participating across NYS based on number of miles the clubs maintain and the classification of their trails. All clubs and club sponsors have deadlines to meet every year to be involved in this grant program. Gaining trails, preparing them for a winter season, maintaining them through the ridding season and then cleaning them up at the end of the season cost?s money. The trail grant fund can not pay for it 100% but it helps out a lot. Clubs make up the balance needed by holding fund raisers and other community?s activities. The problem at hand here in NYS lies with the trail fund monies getting to the club sponsors and then on to the clubs in a timely fashion. Most clubs across NYS received the 2006-2007 season 30% checks from the fund, at the end of 2007 or early on in 2008. The 2007-2008 season started in Sept. 2007. As you can see and will find out this is a very unacceptable delay in funding collected during the 2006-2007 season. This current season we are in is the 2007-2008 season, as of the writing of this letter clubs across NYS have not yet been given written notice as to how many miles each club is getting funded this season and how much per mile the clubs are getting. Last year the per mile rate was decreased do to the lack of funds in the fund itself. After the cut off date snowmobiles where still registered, this money was to be rolled over into the following season, which should be this season. Tentative numbers that have come from parks have stated the same rates as last year! Things are not adding up. This antiquated system is one that is like other NYS government programs, it needs a drastic overhaul, and sooner rather than later. The excuses about new staffing and understaffing from Parks are nothing new, but to only the new people in Parks. This fund has been on a down hill slide for years, and it?s about time that lawmakers get involved and get to the bottom of the problem. When state coffers are on a sharp decline the last thing that should be happening is the overlooking of millions in sales tax revenue that comes from all aspects of winter recreation and tourism, one of the largest being snowmobiling. This letter will be sent out to all snowmobilers via the NYS snow mobile association web site. It is my hope that many snowmobilers will send this letter on to all in NYS government official?s local and state wide. We elect all of you to represent the people of NYS, it is now once again time for all of you to show us you deserve to be our elected officials. Being in a state elected position is like snowmobiling somewhere other than your own back yard, You are being given the privilege to hold office , its not a right to hold office, snowmobilers are given the privilege to ride across the state, it is widely known this is not a right either. It is with this known fact I hope our elected officials from the top down do the right thing and get this problem straightened out in a timely fashion.
Respectfully submitted; Jd Downing Montgomery County Resident, NY
Here are the email address to our local state officials and the state leaders as well:
Major email addresses for NYS leadership are:
Senator Joseph L Bruno E-mail Address(es): bruno@senate.state.ny.us
Please help out by doing you part and send a letter about our cause to the elected officials of NYS.
Unfortantly a short time ago NYS raided this trail fund of $ 1 Million Dollars to help cover NYS Budget item's. NYSSA is working several angles to get OUR money restored ASAP. When more info is available an update will be posted.
Below you will see we have a feedback section available. This feedback is sent directly to the clubs email account. Please feel free to use this option at any time for questions or idea's to the club. In the future we hope to utilize this for club event sign up's as well.