Faced with rising labor costs and a flood of post-pandemic visitors, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is planning to increase some vehicle registration fees by 60 percent in order to plug a shortfall in the state parks budget.

Beginning next year, the Passport to Parks fee will increase from $5 to $8 per year on all non-commercial vehicle registrations. The program, which began in 2018, replaced parking fees for Connecticut residents who traveled to state parks.

The fee increase was approved by lawmakers as part of a $360 million state spending bill passed during the closing days of this year’s legislative session.

That legislation also added two municipal parks — Hartford’s Batterson Park and New London’s Thames River Heritage Park — to the list of properties that are supported by the Passport to Parks fee.

The new fees are expected to provide an additional $10.5 million in annual revenue to the state park system, which has struggled to accommodate record crowds brought about by people flocking to the outdoors during the pandemic.

“We saw a 50 percent increase in visitor levels across the state which is great, but it means that some of our operational needs and maintenance needs across the park system have increased to be able to keep our parks in great shape for to our visitors,” DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes told CT Insider in an interview last week.

“With this increase in the font and the fee, we’ll be able to continue to provide for free access to the parks, without parking fees, for Connecticut residents, and to be able to continue to welcome this significant influx of visitors coming to enjoy our public lands,” she added.

Dykes also noted that the cost of the fee for Connecticut residents is easily surpassed by the fees charged to out-of-state visitors at popular destinations such as Hammonasset and Rocky Neck state beaches — where the daily parking rate is $22 on weekends.

Critics, however, argued that the hike in fees came about with little warning or public input before being wrapped up in a larger spending bill, which passed over Republican opposition.

“Residents are sick of the state being unaffordable, and it’s small fees like this from the government that add up,” said Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield.

Dykes, however, said that officials have known “for some time” that the Passport to Parks account was in danger of falling short of the funds needed to keep up with inflation and rising cost of hiring hundreds of seasonal workers, whose salaries are tied to raises in the state’s minimum wage.

Park expenses have surpassed revenues from the Passport to Parks program in each of the last two calendar years, according to budget numbers provided by the agency on Tuesday. The shortfall grew to nearly $8 million last year.

In preparation for future deficits, DEEP’s Deputy Commissioner for Environmental Conservation Mason Trumble said that the agency has been putting money from earlier surpluses into a rainy day fund to ensure continued park operations.

“We knew that was going to happen, that wasn’t a surprise for us, because the fees are flat,” Trumble said.

Adding Batterson Park and Thames River Heritage Park to the Passport to Parks program, meanwhile, will add nearly $1 million in annual costs to the state, according a fiscal impact report, while saving money for the towns that are currently in charge of their upkeep. (Batterson Park, which is owned by the city of Hartford but located partially in New Britain and Farmington, is operated jointly by all three municipalities).

The full extent of the state’s support of those parks will be determined through formal agreements between DEEP and local officials, and Dykes said it was too early to speculate what services may be involved in those agreements.

During the upcoming 2024 season, Trumble said that DEEP will not increase the cost for non-residents to park at state parks, or other fees such as campground and pavilion rentals. Officials will examine those prices ahead of future seasons, he added, to ensure that they are competitive with nearby states.

The fee structure does not go toward capital improvements or addressing the backlog of necessary repairs within Connecticut’s aging park system. Instead, those costs are funded through state bonding and, recently, the use of American Rescue Plan Act dollars.

Still, Andy Bicking, the executive director of the non-profit Connecticut Forest and Park Association, said that the Passport to Parks fee has proven “successful and popular” with residents since its inception. In addition to removing one-time use fees, he argued its benefits include shorter wait times at park entrances and improved maintenance within busy park areas.

“This is what’s keeping our parks open,” Bicking said. “For park goers, this is a really good deal.”