The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee voted Tuesday to increase hunting and fishing license fees by a smaller amount than proposed by Gov. Jim Doyle in his biennial budget.
Members of the Republican-controlled JFC rolled back the price of deer-hunting licenses to $24 because they believed Doyle’s proposal placed too much of an unfair burden on outdoorsmen. The governor proposed a cost increase from $20 to $32 per deer license.
State Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, the co-chair of the JFC, believes the increase in fees should be shared by all sportsmen, according to Fitzgerald spokesperson Mike Prentiss.
“[The JFC] wanted to make a conscious effort to spread the [financial] hit out among other areas,” Prentiss said. “The governor’s plan kind of unfairly put the bulk of the burden on the deer hunters … but [the JFC] chose not to single out deer hunters.”
Prentiss said the fees needed to be increased because more funding is needed for fish and wildlife preservation, which is where the license fees are applied. But, according to Prentiss, Fitzgerald and several other members of the committee believe it is time for the Department of Natural Resources to be audited again to ensure funds are being appropriated correctly.
“Ideally, we hope that all [the revenue is] being used … in the fish and wildlife programs,” Prentiss said. “Unfortunately, we have reasons to believe this is not the case.”
The Legislative Audit Bureau last reviewed DNR spending in 1998, and the non-partisan office found that only 40 percent of the money collected was being used directly for hunting and fishing programs, according to Prentiss.
“They were using [the revenue] for other unrelated wildlife programs … and almost a quarter of all the revenue was for basic bureaucratic administrative costs, not even anything to do with outdoors or conservation,” Prentiss said.
This rubs hunters and fishers the wrong way, he added.
Although the governor and the JFC both agree the DNR needs additional funding, several legislators believe an audit must first be performed before license fees should increase.
State Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, expressed disappointment with the JFC approval of some of the governor’s license-fee increases because he believes the DNR is too fiscally irresponsible, according to a release.
“In the past, [the DNR has] treated the fee-based programs as nothing more than slush funds,” Nass said in a release. “The time has come to freeze hunting and fishing fees until major changes occur in the management of the DNR and its programs.”
Though the JFC changed some of the governor’s proposed package, Doyle spokesperson Melanie Fonder said he was pleased with the committee’s proposal overall because the final budget costs are comparable.
“The governor presented his budget, and [the JFC] put forward a package with a very similar amount of money,” Fonder said. “When you look at the packages as a whole, the two numbers look similar — about $15 million.”
The committee also voted to accept Doyle’s proposals for modest increases in other hunting and fishing fees, such as charges for non-resident hunting and fishing licenses.
Members of the JFC will vote on other state budget items when they convene next week.
