ACADIA NATIONAL PARK – The opening of the historic Park Loop Road will be delayed this year because of a budget crunch and the winter that won’t end, officials said Tuesday.

Acadia National Park staff usually open the road on the second Friday in April, signaling the start of a new season at Maine’s No. 1 tourist destination, but that appears impossible this year, James Vekasi, Acadia director of maintenance, said.

“That’s a month away, and there’s a lot of things that have to happen to meet that date,” Vekasi said.

In addition to the brutal winter, complete with the most snowfall in Acadia in memory, the park is facing a flat-funded budget for the 2003 summer season, which will mean reducing hours for the permanent seasonal workers who help get the park ready for opening.

Len Bobinchock, Acadia acting superintendent, broke the news Tuesday to business owners in Bar Harbor during an Eggs & Issues meeting focusing on visitor traffic and how to protect the park’s resources without putting a crimp in visitorship.

Bobinchock has estimated that Acadia could face a budget shortfall of $500,000 over last year’s budget as the park absorbs pay increases and other inflationary costs with the same money as in 2002.

Vekasi said the park staff continues to meet to discuss where to cut costs. “We’ll know more as we get into this,” he said.

The year-round staff at Acadia includes two foreman and one equipment operator, who would be responsible for getting the Park Loop Road open in time for a mid-April start. The small crew usually is aided by seasonal workers who are hired in April to clear tree branches that have blown down over the winter, remove the last of the snow and ice, and sweep away the sand and salt from the roadways leading into the park.

Even if temperatures surge in the next few weeks and the ice and snow melts away, Vekasi doesn’t think the three-man crew can pull it off in time.

The seasonal help will be hired in May this year, to cut costs, and Vekasi is hopeful that the park will be fully open by Memorial Day.

But there are no guarantees.

“This winter isn’t giving up,” he said. “We hope to be generally open by Memorial Day.”