Meeting Materials - Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries

Staff Code Change Ideas31‐May‐11S = strategic changeC = customer‐centric changeH = housekeeping changeImportant effort, but requires significant coordination and should not be attempted this sessionLevel Section Subject Desired ChangeS Budget Bill Transfer capsRemove Watercraft Sales & Use Transfer cap of $3M.This would have meant an extra $600k of speciallydesignated funds to our Agency in FY11 and again inFY12 that are supposed to come to our Agency as thestate's recreational boating authority. The income ismeant to defray the costs of administering boatingadministration and law enforcement. The Sportsman'sCaucus told us last year that they wanted to help us getall the money we were entitled to before looking forways to help us generate more revenue. This seemslike a great first step in improving our long‐termfinancial health. Language should be inserted whichprotects this fund form future sweeps by the GeneralAssembly since it is specifically designated for boatingadministration.S 29.1‐103.16 CPI‐based fee increasesChange Board authorization for license fee and boatregistration increases to allow automatic CPIadjustments. The current authority requirestremendous political will and effort. In the end,increases are larger and more dramatic to our users.Due to the time lag, we are always playing catch‐up inthe revenue arena compared to costs. A simpleconsumer price index method would allow for moregradual and efficient price adjustments. Over the last35 years, the largest annual price adjustment wouldhave been $0.60 which is far below the Board's currentauthority of $5 every 3 years. Not only would the costto the user be smaller, we would have less lag time andwould have generated tens of millions of dollars overthe last 35 years if this approach had been in place.Other state agencies have successfully gained CPIadjustment authority and our non‐general fund agencyshould have that flexibility a well. Suggest the Boardhave the authority for annual CPI adjustments and asafeguard could be agreed to that would ensure theprice of an annual hunting or fishing license could notincrease more that $5 in any 3 year period.