It's not merely odd, but indefensible, for Colorado to continue to spend tens of millions of dollars a year acquiring open space when the popular state parks that we already have are crumbling from neglect.

Parks are created for the public's enjoyment. But if they're unsafe or uninviting - and may be closed because they're uninhabitable - then it makes no sense to simultaneously ignore their upkeep while new public lands are purchased.

This dysfunctional process may not have been what voters intended when they created the Great Outdoors Colorado program with a constitutional amendment in 1992.

But it's happening. And since the legislature spent only about $12 million for park operations in the current fiscal year, we don't see millions more for maintenance coming from general revenues.

The simplest way we see to ease the backlog in park maintenance is to modify GOCO's funding formula . . . temporarily. This would require another vote of the people, using Referendum C as inspiration.

State lawmakers should consider placing a measure on the 2008 ballot that for a few years would free up more lottery revenues to tackle park repairs. We think park lovers statewide could get behind the proposal.

Here's the paradox. Earlier this month, the Rocky reported that more than $150 million in maintenance needs to be performed or the state may close some of its 41 parks. More than $40 million of that $150 million would pay for "high priority" health and safety improvements, with $13 million of that targeted for the popular Cherry Creek and Chatfield state parks locally.

Meantime, GOCO has announced that it will award a record $100 million in grants this year to expand Colorado's inventory of parks, wildlife habitat and open space.

GOCO funding has obviously spurred preservation efforts across the state; nearly 600,000 acres have been set aside since the first GOCO grants were made in fiscal year 1994.

But the formula for GOCO, prescribed by the constitution, is too confining, given the need to update and restore older state parks.

Much as Ref C eased a budget crunch without permanently eroding the fiscal safeguards in the Taxpayers' Bill of Rights, a brief "timeout" in GOCO's formula could boost funding for state park maintenance.

Why a new ballot measure? The GOCO amendment sets aside 10 percent of lottery proceeds for the state parks division's general budget, generating about $11 million annually in recent years.

GOCO also states how the remaining 90 percent must be spent: 40 percent to the state Conservation Trust Fund, 50 percent to the GOCO Trust Fund. Those funds let local governments and conservation groups seek grants for wildlife habitat, nature trails, scenic areas and the like.

The trust funds cannot, however, underwrite repairs in the state parks that were established before 1992 - unless they're fixing facilities that were added to existing parks after GOCO was enacted.

There's no ready source of revenues to finance maintenance in older parks. So we think a timeout along the lines of Ref C would work with GOCO. We suggest a measure that doubles to 20 percent, for four or five years, the proportion of lottery funds that go to the parks division - with an instruction to direct that extra $40 million to $50 million to ease the maintenance crunch.

The two trust funds would each lose 5 percent of their lottery money over that period, after which the initial GOCO formula would resume.

GOCO supporters will surely object. Program spokeswoman Chris Leding told us that in 1992, voters were promised that GOCO was not meant to pay for programs the legislature had historically funded.

But it's 15 years later, and voters may also have not anticipated the apparent policy contradiction: Dilapidated state parks should not be allowed to deteriorate while millions are spent to purchase more open space.

That should not continue, and a temporary change to GOCO seems the most reasonable way to catch up with repairs that can restore Colorado parks to the condition those who love to visit them expect.