Soloman,
I would agree with you if the loss were to an average John Q. Public type. In this case, it is a government entity whose accounting/budget needs to zero out at end of it's fiscal year. In other words, all funds received must be disbursed/spent. The $4000 should have been spent and probably was BUT not for the repair for which it was paid/intended. Having said/ranted the above, I really don't care WHAT they did with the funds, I support the National Park Service 105% and don't begrudge them any funds, in fact I have 4 "Golden Age" lifetime passes ,three of which were purchased because I thought $10 for visiting Grand Teton NP was a pittance. And ANOTHER "in fact" ,today I caught 10 cutthroat trout in Cottonwood Creek ( greatly overlooked stream) in GTNP and would have gladly paid ANOTHER $10 for the pleasure I derived .
And in summation, I AM glad to be alive after the "incident"

Mark