Fish and Game to Seek Fee Increase

The Idaho Fish and Game Commission, meeting in Boise on August 8, directed the department to seek a 12 percent license fee increase to cover an anticipated $4 million annual deficit by 2010. Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials will put together a specific proposal, seek the comment and support of hunters and anglers and refine a fee increase to be included in a legislative proposal. Rising costs, inflation and employee pay increases have contributed to a growing deficit in department budgets. Past fee increases have not kept up with rising costs. The result is that to continue the services it provides today, Fish and Game would be $4 million short annually by 2010, administration chief Jim Lau told commissioners. Idaho state Rep. Bert Stevenson, R-Rupert, advised the Commission not to let plans for a new headquarters building be connected to a proposed license fee increase. "If you do, you'll make it really hard for us in the Legislature," he said. Commissioners directed the department to put off pursuing plans for a proposed new headquarters building for a year. That time also would allow planners to further consider public concerns about the impact of a new, three-story building on the Morrison Knudsen Nature Center. No one disputed the department's need for a new headquarters building. The added time may mean a plan that would be "better and more acceptable to more people," even though that might increase the cost, department Director Steve Huffaker said. "The timing may not be right now." Several commissioners noted that information about the new building should be openly shared. "This thing has to be inclusive," Clearwater Region Commissioner Alex Irby said. The new southeast Idaho Commissioner Randall Budge agreed, "It's important to have adequate information and a transparent process," he said. Stevenson also suggested the state might help Fish and Game with an alternative source of funding to make up future budget deficits. Irby suggested that perhaps access to and across private lands would be one place the state could get involved. Some Idaho hunters and anglers have resisted the lure of tax dollars to help with chronically tight Fish and Game budgets, fearing a divergence from traditional hunting and fishing values. But that may not hold true in neighboring states that use some tax money to help with wildlife management. Stevenson suggested that counties might also get involved. In any case, he said that without some state involvement, hunting will become a rich man's sport.