Predictions in the world of finance don’t always come true, and budgets have to be re-evaluated halfway through the fiscal year. The process is known as budget adjustment.
House Appropriations takes the first pass at reviewing the administration’s recommendations and assessing the needs of departments and agencies, and so far the representatives have already taken a pass at key budget areas, including part of the Agency of Natural Resources, the Department of Corrections, the Department of Children and Families, the Agency of Transportation, the Department of Education, among others, since Monday.
The exercise is typically a fast forward preview of bigger things, i.e. the Big Bill, to come, and this year is no exception. The Budget Adjustment Act process is also a window on upcoming money-related major policy decisions in play for the session.
This year, Tropical Storm Irene has taken a $25 million toll on the budget.
But a larger storm – the ongoing recession – also continues to wreak havoc with the state operational costs and delivery of services.
So, far a half dozen or so commissioners and secretaries have paid a visit to House Approps, and again as many will testify between now and the end of the week.
Fish and wildlife
Patrick Berry, commissioner of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, made a pitch for a $1.2 million increase in General Fund support – over its original $919,000 budget request for fiscal year 2012.
The department needs about $20 million to run on, and nearly all of its revenue comes from federal grants and fees, including hunting and fishing licenses, which have declined by about $1 million. Berry told lawmakers that he has asked his roughly 145 employees to find $1 million in internal savings so that his total budget for fiscal year 2012 will come in at about $19 million.
Berry said the department has relied too heavily on hunting and fishing licenses and permits, and those revenues have sharply declined because of a drop in the number of licenses sold.
“We’re on a year to year yo-yo that’s challenging for staff and creates great stress,” Berry told House Approps on Wednesday.
A recent $2 increase in licenses (the total cost is $22) has dampened sales. In addition, a decision to drop the number of antlerless permits ($14) from 26,500 to 9,600, in order to boost the health of the deer herd in Vermont, has lowered sales of hunting licenses, he said.
Other factors affecting sales? The ice fishing season on Lake Champlain was a bust because of warm weather, heavy snowfalls were hard on the deer herd, and the spring and fall floods hurt fishing.
Berry said the department has been on a starvation diet for the last few years. The department has lost 10 percent of its workforce and the number of game wardens has decreased by 20 percent, he said. Long-term investments in equipment have been delayed.
Trucks for game wardens, for example, haven’t been replaced as frequently as needed and so consequently the vehicles owned by the department are in poor condition, and many couldn’t pass inspection this year because of failing brakes and other needed repairs.
In general, it has been difficult, he said, to equip the wardens with the vehicles they need to catch poachers, monitor trail use and provide public safety services in the back country. Berry is trying to hire five more wardens, but he must provide them with snowmobiles, boats and vehicles so that they can keep an eye on recreational use of state lands. Right now, the state has 34 wardens on staff; Berry said the Legislature authorized 39 and he is in the process of hiring the full complement.
In addition to the $1 million request to shore up the department, Berry has asked for about $200,000 to purchase new trucks.
Berry is working with the Department of Finance and Management to find a more stable funding source. Nationwide, he said, there has been an even more dramatic decline in hunting and fishing permit and license sales. To make up the difference in revenues, he said, in some states, one-eighth of 1 percent of the sales tax is dedicated to supporting Fish and Wildlife programs.
Transportation hires in the works
The Agency of Transportation is moving into high gear, post-Irene, to plan for permanent long-term repairs to the state’s heavily damaged road infrastructure in central and southern Vermont. Most of the funding for those repairs will come out of the emergency highway funds from the federal government, but the agency is also looking for flexibility in its spending authority in order to cover unanticipated costs in the spring. In order to essentially double its workload in the coming year, the agency is looking to create 21 full-time, permanent positions.
Brian Searles, the secretary for the agency, said the positions, including 16 district techs are needed now – and into the future. Searles said 50 percent of VTrans’ 1,240 employees are slated to retire over the next five years, and the agency must find a way to recruit and train new workers.
