SARATOGA SPRINGS — State parks officials on Wednesday discussed ways to survive state budget cuts and a hiring freeze, including using more volunteers, hiking user fees, developing partnerships with colleges and ramping up private fundraising.

In a meeting that likely mirrors conversations happening across the state, officials also urged board members and the public to lobby local legislators before state parks have to shut sites because of lack of funds and staff.

At a Saratoga-Capital District State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Commission meeting on Wednesday, officials announced that they planned to bring concessions at the John Boyd Thacher and Moreau state parks in-house at a cost of $30,000 because a contract with an outside vendor has expired and they weren’t happy with that vendor’s service.

But board member Michael Dennis had another idea and suggested approaching the culinary arts programs at Schenectady County Community College and Adirondack Community College.

“If we could get the community colleges to offer credits and have their students come prepare the food in our parks, we would share the revenues with them,” Dennis said.

Regional parks director Alane Ball Chinian said she would pursue the idea.

Officials also suggested that raising user fees, including the $6 vehicle use fee now in place for picnic areas, might be necessary.

Board member Eleanor Mullaney suggested hiking park entrance fees at Saratoga Spa State Park on rock concert nights at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Those concerts drew almost 200,000 people into the park this summer, said assistant regional director Robert Kuhn.

For the fee to increase, the governor’s office has to approve it, officials said.

Officials fear the statewide hiring freeze that started this summer will be more obvious to the general public at the parks than at other state agencies that don’t have direct, constant contact with the public.

Two park manager vacancies won’t be filled by new people, temporary and seasonal staff is likely to be let go early and officials are considering the consequences of closing facilities if funds get so tight or staffing levels so low that it’s necessary, Chinian said.

“It’s very difficult to close a facility,” she said. “We’re just trying to weigh closing, or early closing, of facilities.”

Buildings would have to be winterized, for example, and security would have to be put in place to keep people out, she said.

“This is uncharted territory,” Dennis noted of the pressure the budget situation puts on the state parks.

Officials encouraged board members and the public to lobby local legislators for more money for their individual parks.

“I think the big fear is that there’s a perception that we’re fat,” said board chairwoman Heather Mabee, referring to the budget. “We’ve been running lean for years.”

The parks also will need to ramp up private fundraising efforts, Mabee said. “We just have so much in our capital budget needs,” she said.

In the Saratoga-Capital District region, officials plan to start fundraising next year, Mabee said.

There are $700 million worth of state park projects that need to be completed statewide, officials said.

A $132 million infusion of state money this year for state park capital projects has been spent or will be spent soon. “We have successfully invested that money into our structures and into our parks and historic sites,” Chinian said.

A million of it is going toward an exterior amphitheater renovation at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, whose look has become more conservative since a wavy design proposed several months ago was criticized by some people in the community.

This year’s regional parks budget was cut 3 percent during the fiscal year as part of Gov. David Paterson’s initiative to cut state spending. Next year, the Saratoga-Capital region is proposing to spend $9.9 million, although that budget likely will be revised. Parks officials are attempting to cut it another 7 percent as the result of a state directive.

To top it off, the rainy summer cut into parking and boat launch fees for the parks, Kuhn said. “We did not have a great summer to help bail us out revenue-wise.”

Camping, however, was up, a result of people looking for cheaper vacation alternatives.

And that, Mabee said, shows how in a tough economy, people rely on state parks. “Our state parks are going to become more needed than ever,” she said.

Parks in the Saratoga-Capital region generate about $1.5 million in revenue a year, Kuhn said.