In a meeting earlier this month, the Arizona State Parks Board decided the courthouse would be one of 13 victims set to close in the wake of a nearly $10 million sweep of funds.

However, the mayor, City Council and the Chamber of Commerce are fighting to keep open the 118-year-old Courthouse, which has brought tourists from around the world off the beaten path and into one of the southwest's most historic towns.

"We want to find a way to make it happen, to keep it open, and I think [the State Parks Board] do also," said Don Taylor, president of the Chamber of Commerce and a key player in the city's fight to keep the courthouse open.

"It's just a matter of making sure we are prepared, so that we can sit down and hash it out. We want to reach a resolution that will be beneficial to both Parks, and the City of Tombstone."

Taylor said the city hopes to meet with boa­rd members in February to present a plan to keep the courthouse open.

"That whole process is barely starting," he said. "We have been in touch with the state and it looks like they are amenable to working with us to put together a package, but we haven't sat down at the table and hashed anything out yet. That part is really still in its infancy."

The 5th Special Session of the State Legislature swept about $8.6 million, officials said. Facing this dramatic decrease in their already small operating budget, the board voted to begin phased closures of 13 state parks, leaving nine open.

The board will start the next fiscal year with a zero balance in its primary operating budget, according to officials.

In a press release, Renée Bahl, executive director of Arizona State Parks, outlined the severity of the department's budget.

"Our gate fee funds, conservation funds and donations were so severely swept that now we have an imminent cash flow crisis and a downward spiral in the very revenues that we desperately need to keep the system operating," she said.

Without additional funds, the only parks that can survive for now are the more larger and solvent ones such as Kartchner Caverns in Benson and Catalina State Park near Tucson. In fiscal year 2009 they generated $600,000 and $161,000 in net­­­ revenue, respectively. The courthouse had a net cost of $53,000.

It's the economic impact of closing one of Cochise County's biggest tourism draws that could prove to be most costly. Tourism brought in more than $7.2 million and 101 county jobs in fiscal year 2007.

The budget crisis forces the board to close parks based on profitability instead of on what will most profit the communities near the parks.

"A park isn't meant to make money or lose money; a park is there to be an economic generator for the community," said Ellen Bilbrey, chief public information officer for Arizona State Parks. "That's what all the state parks are set up for, to get [tourists] out into rural areas."

But it's more than just what is inside the museum that would be lost if it closes.

"If you look just at these parks and all the jobs statewide that are being affected, and then you look at the economic impact on these communities, what good does it do to have stimulus money if you can't keep parks open so that these communities can keep all these people in their jobs?"

Bilbrey asked. "To me, that's perfect use of stimulus money. That's what the plan was in 1957. You have state parks, you draw people to rural areas and you generate jobs."

Tombstone residents know what a blow it would be to lose the courthouse. In a town where cowboys still walk the streets, gunfighters still draw their weapons, and madams flirt around corners, it's easy to step into Tombstone and get lost in the myth. The courthouse, with its exhibits and photos and artifacts, helps to make it all real.

"It is an important part of allowing people to see the real history of Tombstone because Hollywood hasn't gotten the story right yet," said Taylor. "This place is really just a remarkable piece of Americana. The courthouse tells that story in a tremendous way. It's a very important cog in the machinery of the history here, so that's why it's important to keep it open."

The cities of Payson, Camp Verde and Yuma are currently working with the state to develop plans in which each city could help take over the budget of their nearby parks to keep them open.

"[Cities] would hopefully help fill the gap of what it costs to manage that park," Bilbrey said. "If you can make it break even, with the overhead of the park and the cost of the salaries of the staff, then that park can stay open and still be part of the state parks system, so it still is a tourism draw."

As for the future of state parks in Arizona, Bilbrey said that "We need a cash flow. We have to look at our cash flow every day to be sure that we have enough money to operate."

The priority is to use the high revenue-generating parks to rebuild the State Parks' revolving enhancement fund, which will hopefully allow other parks to be reopened. The enhancement fund is the department's chief operating budget, much of which comes from gate fees from the parks.

But as the legislature in Phoenix continues to work on balancing the budget, everyone knows that things can change.

"We don't know if there might be more sweeps of any of the funds," said Bilbrey. "If [the State Parks funds] are generating money, the state may need the money to operate something else."