Sandra Wilson, March 21, 2008 This week the Legislature continued a review of agency cut lists and worked hard to find still further reductions in order to balance the State budget for next year. There are no firm budget recommendations on the table yet. So far, the Senate and House are still in the discussion stage. Senate DiscussionsThe Senate appears open to the strategy of increasing vessel registration fees in order to avoid having to cut law enforcement positions. With 79% of FWC’s General Revenue (GR) supporting law enforcement, this is an area of major focus in their efforts to reduce General Revenue spending. The Senate Environmental Preservation and Conservation Committee recommended a 55% vessel registration fee increase, based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which would recover 100% of buying power lost to inflation since the last increase in 1991. This increase would generate approximately $10 million in new dollars, most of which would come to FWC for law enforcement and boating. This strategy, along with an automatic CPI increase every 5 years, beginning in 2013, for vessel registration and recreational fishing and hunting licenses, is included in the Senate sunset review recommendations for FWC. When the bill passed through the Government Operations Committee, it was unanimously approved and two members made a point of asking that some of the money be used for the FWC law enforcement pay issue. The Senate General Government Appropriations Committee (SGGA) is considering a number of reduction strategies and, to avoid cutting officer positions, they could potentially reduce funding for boating improvement projects, if the vessel registration fee increase fails. SGGA will be the next committee to take up the FWC sunset bill and will address the vessel registration fee increase, and its use, at that time. House DiscussionsThe House is generally not supportive of fee increases this Session and prefers that the State reduce its spending to live within its means. The House Environment and Natural Resources Committee, who oversees FWC’s budget, has taken a stand of no new issues funded and the Chair directed members to find budget reductions, trust fund sweeps and revenue redirects to balance the budget. FWC is hopeful they will at least fund its grant requests and will continue to lobby all of the agency’s top issues. Next week the House and Senate hope to have their committee budget bills filed, so things will be moving very quickly. The following chart shows a side-by-side of the FWC budget request and the Governor’s recommendations. The House and Senate positions will be added as soon as they come out. Keep in mind, the State financial outlook has worsened significantly since the Governor’s budget came out. Expect to see the impact of that further shortfall on the agency’s budget as it moves through Session. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
FY 2008-2009 Legislative Budget Request | | Agency Request | | Governor's Recommendations | | FTE | Budget | Fund | FTE | Budget | Fund | | | | | | | | Total FY 2007-2008 Budget | 1,889 | $238,258,252 | | 1,889 | $238,258,252 | | | non-recurring and adjustments | (5.0) | ($2,032,867) | | (5.0) | ($2,008,762) | | | Base Recurring Budget | 1,884 | $236,225,385 | | 1,884 | $236,249,490 | | | | | | | | | | | Commission Issues | | | | | | | | Law Enforcement | | | | | | | | Law Enforcement Retention Pay | | $3,859,357 | GR/TF | | $0 | | | Mobile Computer Support | | $649,950 | TF | | $0 | | | Field Office - Windley Key | | $1,994,850 | GR | | $0 | | | Land Management | | | | | | | | NonCARLLand Improvement (FCO) | | $3,570,000 | SGTF | | $1,785,000 | SGTF | | Lake Restoration (FCO) | | $2,000,000 | SGTF | | $1,000,000 | SGTF | | Wildlife Conservation | | | | | | | | Gopher Tortoise Mgmt Plan | 4.0 | $3,727,875 | LATF | 0.0 | $1,000,000 | LATF | | Wildlife Assistance Program | 5.0 | $1,049,007 | TF | 0.0 | $0 | | | Specialty License Plate Sales | | $40,000 | TF | | $40,000 | TF | | Panther Protection on Roadways | | $94,500 | FPRMTF | | $0 | | | Sea Turtle Conservation | | $186,633 | MRCTF | | $186,633 | MRCTF | | Venomous Reptile Program | | $75,000 | SGTF | | $75,000 | SGTF | | Hunting and Fishing | | | | | | | | Commercial Licensing System Maint | $360,022 | MRCTF | | $360,022 | MRCTF | | Artificial Reef Construction (FCO) | | $700,000 | TF | | $700,000 | TF | | Public Hunting Improvement | | $250,000 | SGTF | | $0 | | | Youth Hunting Program | | $50,000 | SGTF | | $50,000 | SGTF | | Blue Crab Effort Mgmt Plan | | $132,000 | MRCTF | | $132,000 | MRCTF | | Enhanced Mottled Duck Surveys | | $38,240 | SGTF | | $38,240 | SGTF | | Land Acquisition | | | | | | | | Florida Forever Land Acquisition (FCO) | $4,500,000 | FFTF | | $4,500,000 | FFTF | | Mitigation Park Land Acquisition (FCO) | $10,000,000 | LATF | | $10,000,000 | LATF | | Grants | | | | | | | | Wildlife Habitat Restoration | | $1,570,250 | FGTF | | $1,570,250 | FGTF | | Federal Boating Improvement | | $1,812,772 | FGTF | | $1,812,772 | FGTF | | Boating Safety Grant | 2.0 | $128,860 | FGTF | 0.0 | $0 | | | Grant-Funded Employees | 53.0 | $0 | FGTF | 0.0 | $0 | | | Boating | | | | | | | | Boating Improvement Program (FCO) | $6,600,000 | TF | | $6,600,000 | TF | | Boating Safety Education | 1.0 | $252,951 | MRCTF | 0.0 | $0 | | | Derelict Vessel Removal | 1.0 | $800,000 | GR | 0.0 | $0 | | | Maintenance | | | | | | | | Vehicle Replacement | | $329,468 | TF | | $0 | | | Information Technology Support | 1.0 | $371,687 | ATF | 0.0 | $0 | | | Increased Office Lease Costs | | $165,921 | TF | | $0 | | | Repair Degraded Facilities (FCO) | | $592,850 | various | | $0 | | | Other | | | | | | | | Alligator Marketing Transfer | | $100,000 | SGTF | | $0 | | | Cash Transfer to Grant Trusts | | $12,500,000 | SGTF | | $12,500,000 | SGTF | | Reduce 2005 Hurricane Recovery | | ($524,000) | SGTF | | ($524,000) | SGTF | | Eliminate Fisheries Disaster Relief | | ($184,544) | FGTF | | ($184,544) | FGTF | | Eliminate Fisheries Assistance | | ($100,000) | FGTF | | ($100,000) | FGTF | | Other Issues | | | | | | | | HR Outsourcing Contract Adjustment | | | | | ($3,486) | various | | Administrative Hearings Adjustment | | | | | $18,506 | various | | Casualty Insurance Adjustment | | | | | ($67,605) | various | | Release Hold-back Reductions | | | | | ($1,711,461) | various | | Fundshift LE from GR to Trust | | | | | ($1,639,216) | GR | | Fundshift LE from GR to Trust | | | | | $1,639,216 | TF | | Eliminate Alligator Trapper Stipend | | | | | ($210,000) | SGTF | | Eliminate Red Tide Grants | | | | | ($850,000) | GR | | Eliminate Smithsonian Ecosystem Contract | | | ($80,000) | GR | | Eliminate Smithsonian Monitoring Contract | | | ($124,800) | MRCTF | | Reduce Red Tide Research & Monitoring | | | ($1,200,000) | GR | | | | | | | | | | | TOTALS | 1,951 | $293,919,034 | | 1,884 | $273,562,017 | |
Abbreviations | CARLTF | Conservation And Recreation Lands Program Trust Fund | | FFTF | Florida Forever Trust Fund | | FPRMTF | Florida Panther Research & Management Trust Fund | | GR | General Revenue | | LATF | Land Acquisition Trust Fund | | MRCTF | Marine Resources Conservation Trust Fund | | NWTF | Nongame Wildlife Trust Fund | | SGTF | State Game Trust Fund | | STMTF | Save The Manatee Trust Fund | | FGTF | Federal Grants Trust Fund | | GDTF | Grants & Donations Trust Fund | | ATF | Administrative Trust Fund | | TF | various trust funds | | various | various funds (combination of General Revenue and trust funds) | | FCO | Fixed Capital Outlay | | mgmt | management | | maint | maintenance | | LE | Law Enforcement | | HR | Human Resources |
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