Agency Criticized For Borrowing From Fund Fish And Game’s Budget Woes Blamed On Raids To Accounts

A legislative analyst says the Idaho Fish and Game Department’s budget crunch is part and parcel with borrowing from a fund intended for wildlife enhancement.

Jeff Youtz supervises the Legislature’s Office of Budget and Policy Analysis.

Last week, he warned Fish and Game Commissioners about the department’s practice of borrowing from set-aside accounts during lean months when tag sales are poor.

The set-aside accounts contain about $2 million collected from sportsmen’s license fees for specific fish and wildlife enhancement work.

Youtz contends the problem is Fish and Game administrators rely on borrowing from the set-aside funds and not always using it for its intended support of fisheries and wildlife.

“I don’t think that’s right,” Youtz said. “And if the Idaho Fish and Game Commission doesn’t correct it, I think the Legislature will in this upcoming session be statutorily creating more stringent protection for those set-asides so that they cannot be borrowed from.”

The money is intended for such things as winter big-game feeding, controlling depredation of crops and rehabilitating winter range.

Fish and Game now owes the accounts about $600,000 it will be unable to pay back at current spending levels, Youtz said.

“This is not the department’s money. This is the sportsmen’s money,” said Upper Snake River Valley Sportsmen’s Association representative Dave McAteer.

“We’re giving up habitat so that Fish and Game can have a slush fund.”

McAteer said not spending hunters’ money to improve deer herds is one reason the population is down in some units, discouraging non-residents from hunting in Idaho.

Fish and Game officials earlier this week said three years of weak non-resident deer tag sales combined with ballooning expenses prompted the agency to contemplate a 12.5 percent budget reduction.

More than 3,000 non-resident deer hunting tags for the upcoming season have not sold, and resident deer tag sales also are flat, Youtz said.

Another challenge Fish and Game needs to solve, Youtz said, is coming up with $1 million it will soon owe the company that installed its automated license sale machines. The bill is due when the company can show the system is working right.