DEC License fee increase comments

OK~ I'm going to run a list of comments from Sportsmen. It might get a tad long but it is easier for me to track comments here than to follow all the emails I've been getting.
Ya know as they come in , I'll post them.
bpb
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Feb. 15 2009
Re: [SCOPEny] CFAB~DEC updated information
Bill,
There's much to be said about the proposed license fee increases.

I personally don't have the confidence that all of NYS's hunters,fishers and trappers are being represented properly - and have many questions for the state's lawmakers, DEC commissioner, governor and others.

A complete financial report (like Pennsylvania) has never been made available to NYS hunters, fishers and trappers.
The last time a partial and cursory report was made available was in 2002 (in the fishing/hunting regs guide).

I've got a few questions and comments for now.

Today, if one were to buy all of the current hunting, fishing and trapping licenses the cost would be ~$4,700 (approx. four thousand seven hundred dollars).

If the proposed fees are passed, the future costs for all hunting, fishing, trapping licenses would be ~$6,300 (approx. six thousand three hundred dollars).

This equals an increase of ~$1,500 (approx. one thousand five hundred dollars) - that's an increase of ~33%.

Some of the individual license increases were as high as 100% and some licenses show charges where there weren't any before.

The resident sportsman license will be increased by 26% while the non-resident sportsman license will be increased by only 12%.

In the past, when we've been able to see where the money was coming from and where it was going (usually these two figures were shown as being exactly the same) part of the DEC's (re fish and wildlife) budget went towards En Con (aka Law Enforcement) approx. $15 million/year. It's my opinion that we (as hunters, fishers and trappers) shouldn't be paying for the entire En Con allocation. Yes we have lawbreakers but the biggest offenders are those who pollute our lakes, streams, rivers, air and the environment in general.

Why should we be responsible for the entire En Con (police) budget?

If the governor gets his way and increases the fees by ~33% then the state's contribution to the conservation fund should also be increased by 33%. Why should we be the only group who pays for wildlife protection?

In the future, we should all be demanding a complete financial report yearly from the NYSDEC as it pertains to fish and wildlife (rounded off to the nearest dollar. All income and all expenditures.

How the NYSDEC has been able to get away with this lack of reporting is beyond me. It sounds like someone has been asleep at the switch.

, , Frank
bcc conservationists' list

ps - ref. http://www.outdoorliaisons.com/licensefee.htm

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Suffolk County
NYSCC's proposed license fee increase

Folks: As you know, Harold Palmer, the president of NYSCC, has requested input, from all of the NYSCC's member organizations, regarding NYSCC's proposed support for a license fee increase. SASI (the sportsmen's/women's federation, in and for Suffolk County) held a general meeting, last night, Feb 6, during which is was unanimously voted that we WOULD NOT support or consider any license fee proposals, unless and until such time as there has been a complete and accurate audit of and accounting for Conservation Fund monies.
The last audit, according to my memory, was at least a decade ago and, if my memory is accurate, as to its findings, it indicated much mismanagement and slipshod accounting procedures. Nothing, in that vein, to the best of my recollection and that of others, who have been around and involved that long, has changed.

Gary Hungerford