While we reluctantly support the key elements of the budget presented by Democrats on Tuesday, there are certain elements that we do not like.

First, there’s the canoe tax. Without so much as a public hearing or a chance for people to protest, the Appropriations Committee created a $10 registration fee for kayaks, canoes and sailboats. One sticker will be included with fishing licenses, but for camp owners and people with multiple boats, the registration is another onerous user fee and yearly hassle. The committee also directed the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to develop a “non-consumptive user permit” that could assess fees on hikers and bird watchers.

The intent is to spread the costs of funding the IF&W beyond the hunting and fishing communities. That’s a reasonable idea and easy to accomplish: Fund more of the department’s operations out of the general fund and make it less dependent on hunters and fishermen for its financing.

Nobody knows what form the non-consumptive user permit will take, but we don’t think hikers should have to pay a fee for walking in the woods. What’s next, trail toll booths? A levy on people who use the sidewalks? Do we need to combine E-ZPass and pedometers just to scrape together funding for IF&W? How far does a person have to walk before it becomes a hike?

Here’s the kicker: The money isn’t part of efforts to balance the budget. Much of it is new funding to increase the number of biologists who work on non-game species for IF&W and to add a cartographer. IF&W is underfunded; it needs more money and more state support for the many tasks it has been given. But the Legislature shouldn’t slip something that’s bound to be controversial into the budget without even offering a public hearing. It’s a dirty trick.

Budget negotiations always come down to the wire, and the Appropriations Committee’s vote at 5:30 a.m. Saturday is not the most unusual thing about the process. Nonetheless, it sets up a situation where important changes in the law don’t receive enough individual attention. Big moves shouldn’t be made in the dark. They need sunlight for legitimacy.

We agree with the committee’s tweaking of the BETR program. Essentially, Democrats have exempted big-box, out-of-state retailers who build stores larger than 100,000 square feet. Maine-based businesses, like Hannaford and L.L. Bean are not affected. In an $80 million a year program, they’ve taken back about $200,000 that rightly focuses the program on non-retail business. But the issue deserved public attention.

And why did Democrats wait until late in the process to unveil a $40 million collective bargaining agreement with state employee unions? According to Republicans on the committee, the material was available for more than two weeks but kept private.

There are other examples that will be revealed as the budget moves through the House and Senate and onto the governor’s desk. The result will be contentious debate on the floor and numerous amendments

We understand the pressures to move quickly with the budget, but a process that automatically closes the door to debate and cuts the public off from information shouldn’t be tolerated.