The reasons behind the proposed license fee increases

SALT LAKE CITY — Funding needed to keep Utah's wildlife populations healthy and properly managed would be received by the Division of Wildlife Resources through license fee increases approved by the Utah Wildlife Board on Jan. 5.

Before the fees become official, they must be approved by the Utah Legislature. The fee increases would provide the DWR with as much as $3 million in additional funding.

"If we don't receive the additional funding, we'll have to make significant budget cuts that will include reducing the number of employees," said Jim Karpowitz, director of the DWR. "If we lose that budget money and those employees, the state's wildlife will suffer."

Most of the license fee increases approved by the board are less than $5. "The fee increases have also been spread out, so no single group of hunters or anglers will be impacted more than another group," Karpowitz said.

What are the reasons for the license and fee increase proposal?

• The Division of Wildlife Resources receives about 92 percent of its funding from the sale of hunting and fishing licenses, federal funds, and outside contracts.
• Whenever the Legislature approves a pay/benefit increase the division must fund 92 percent of the costs internally. Those increases mean that additional funds must be generated from fees or federal funds. Federal funds are limited based on the number of licenses sold so more federal funds are not necessarily an option.
• Between the years 2001 and 2004 there were very little or no pay increases for state employees. In 2006 and 2007 the Governors Office and Legislature is beginning to fund some increases with the recovering economy. The Governor recommended a 2.5 percent cost of living increase for state employees in 2007. That increase along with some changes in insurance and termination costs will cost the Division an additional $2.1 million in 2007.
• Because of other cost increases and impacts such as vehicle and utility costs along with insurance impacts it is estimated that the Division will already incur a deficit in 2006 of about $1 million. With the increases in the Governors budget the 2007 year deficit would be nearly $3.4 million.
• To address these impacts the Division cut $670,000 from 2006 budgets. Unless programs are eliminated or reduced there cannot be additional cuts.
• Therefore, on an emergency basis the Division requested to the Wildlife Board, the Governors Office, and the Legislature that fees be increased to cover the shortfall.
• Approximately $1 million dollars in revenue will be raised by increasing resident fishing licenses $2, small game $3, combination $3 and deer permits $5. Increasing the big game application fee from $5 to $10 will generate about $1.3 million, and will help offset the total cost of the drawing. Other fee increases will generate approximately $365,000. The Wildlife Board also recommended raising the fee for brine shrimp COR fee by $5,000 that will generate approximately $400,000 in new revenue.
• Although most fee changes were from $2 to $5, the bull moose hunting license was raised by $100. That increase brought the bull moose fee in line with the price of the other once-in-a-lifetime hunts.
• Utah has a very small percent of nonresident hunters (under 8 percent) and consequently the revenue from nonresidents cannot significantly improve division budgets. Nevertheless, those fees were notably raised in recent years. Last year all big game licenses for nonresident bucks and bulls were raised from $50 to $500 per license/permit. Three years ago nonresident fishing licenses were also raised by $25 for season fishing licenses. Nonresident short term fishing licenses were also increased.

The following is a partial list of license fee increases

	Current    rate	Proposed    rate
Resident fishing license (14 to 64 years of age)	$26	$28
Resident small game license (14 years of age and older)	$17	$20
resident combination license (12 years of age and older)	$34	$37
Resident general season deer permit	$40	$45
Big game application fee	$  5	$10

See the complete list of proposed fee increases. — (PDF format)