Officials
with the Ohio Division of Wildlife believe the agency’s finances
are “okay” though “not great.”
This,
in spite of the fact the Wildlife Division had expenditures that
exceeded revenues. In Fiscal Year 2019 the agency saw an $8.4 million
red-ink gap between what went out money-wise and what came in.
And
Fiscal 2020 is likely to see a negative disparity between expenses
and income, Wildlife Division officials say as well.
For
Fiscal 2019 – and as seen as part of an informative section in the
Wildlife Division’s annual calendar – expenditures totaled nearly
$81 million. Meanwhile, income totaled some $72.6 million.
A
more specific breakdown of where the money came from and where it was
spent is summarized into two accompanying pie charts.
The
last time the Wildlife Division took in more money than it received
was Fiscal 2018.
Still,
the Wildlife Division does encounter years where more goes out for
projects, services and such than it takes in as receipts from the
sale of licenses, fees associated with special taxes, and monies
generated from federal aid dollars.
“I
think we’re doing okay but I wouldn’t put it as great,” said
Todd Haines, a Wildlife Division assistant chief. “We’re holding
our own.”
Speaking
to specifics was Kelley Moseley, the agency’s administrator charged
with handling the agency’s books, along with Brian Banbury, the
head of the Wildlife Division’s information and education section.
Moseley
noted, for instance, how in Fiscal 2019 the Wildlife Division
undertook some large expenses. Among them being a land purchase in
Hardin County.
Much
work remains at revamping and rehabilitating the agency’s popular
Spring Valley shooting range and the one at the Delaware Wildlife
Area, too; each of which have been in dire need of upgrades and
maintenance.
Likewise,
such ranges will remain a priority for the agency with eventual
improvements in mind for the one located at the Grand River Wildlife
Area in Trumbull County, both Haines and Moselely say.
“We
have a lot of catching up to do,” Moseley said. “Our goal is to
make these ranges as safe as possible.”
An
area where the Wildlife Division is legally bound to spend large sums
money is employee wages and the accompanying fringe benefits. Lumped
under the pie chart banners of “Wildlife Management,” “Fish
Management,” and “Wildlife Officers,” these expenses are
demands that can be controlled but are difficult to contain.
One
method is to reduce the number of employees, which Haines says the
agency has done. The Wildlife Division has shrunk its full-time
workforce from 425 employees five years ago to 380 now, Haines said.
As
for land acquisition, this line item will always be a feature, the
three agency officials say.
However,
the purchase of up to 60,000 acres in four southeast Ohio is a fiscal
expenditure that won’t show up in the Wildlife Division’s
standard pie chart calendar feature. This property assignment is
eagerly being worked on by the Wildlife Division, and represents
something unique for the agency and likely will be seen under a
different reporting format, Haines said.
“This
is the first time we’ve received (General Revenue Fund) money from
the legislature,” he said.
Speaking
of revenue, those arriving dollars and cents are often difficult to
peg. Such unknowns includes calculating how much additional revenue
can be expected as the result of the fee increases for certain types
of fishing and hunting licenses.
“(Fiscal)
2020 will be the first full year those dollars will be showing up,
and we’ll see how much,” Moseley said.
Moseley
did say an area of income that is out of range of the Wildlife
Division to exercise revenue enhancement is the all-important
“Federal Aid” dollars. In the Wildlife Division’s Fiscal Year
2019 pie chart this slice was the largest, beating out income derived
from either the sale of fishing or hunting licenses.
In
fact, this $23.8 million federal aid ledger notation was nearly equal
to combining the receipts of both hunting and fishing license sales.
The
thing is, Moseley says, so goes the sale of fishing tackle, firearms,
ammunition, and archery tackle so goes federal aid money. That is
because a federal excise tax on these products fuels the
government’said-in-restoration for fish and wildlife projects is
apportioned to the states for approved projects and activities.
Thus
with fewer firearms and ammunition being sold, the Wildlife Division
anticipates seeing a drop in revenues from this source, says Moseley.
Holding
its own is the amount of money the Wildlife Division gets from the
collection of a certain portion of the state’s motor fuel tax. This
allowance was the Ohio legislature’s acknowledgment how the state’s
anglers and boaters buy fuel, too. Consequently, the programs which
benefit these end-users should see some of the state’s motor fuel
tax money.
In
Fiscal 2019 the Wildlife Division was the recipient of nearly $2.4
million in state gasoline sales tax receipts.
In
the end, the officials say, the Wildlife Division is tasked not only
with minding fish and game resources but also husbanding the dollars
and cents that pay for these items.
“It’s
just like operating a company,” Moseley said.
JFrischk@Ameritech.net
JFrischk4@gmail.com
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