§101917 Franchise fees

Summary

Concession contracts must require payment to the federal government of a franchise fee or other money set by the Secretary based on how valuable the contract rights are to the operator. The value is judged by whether the operator has a fair chance for net profit compared with the money they put in and the contract duties. Getting revenue is less important than protecting park units and giving visitors needed services at fair prices. All fees go into a special Treasury account. Twenty percent of what is deposited can be spent by the Secretary for System-wide activities without extra approval and stays available until used. Each park unit gets a subaccount that receives 80 percent of fees collected at that unit to pay for visitor services and urgent resource work; those funds also stay available until used. Contracts must state the total fee for the contract term and may only change for extraordinary, unexpected events. Contracts longer than 5 years must allow fee reconsideration at the request of the Secretary or the operator and must use binding arbitration if they cannot agree. The Secretary may cut the unit share for a year if a unit’s revenues exceed its needs, but not below 60 percent.