Hunting Licenses May Cost More Soon Fish And Game Asks Legislature To Raise Fees Right Away

A rare and drastic price hike for outdoor enthusiasts’ licenses was approved Friday by the Fish and Game Commission.

Commissioners agreed to seek immediate legislative approval of a $3 million increase in resident fees to shore up big game management and enforcement.

That’s a substantially less drastic increase than was earlier considered, however. Friday’s 6-1 decision reversed one made in August when the commission decided it needed to raise another $7.6 million a year to avoid further program reductions and restore some operations cut over the past 15 months.

The commission initially had planned to wait until 1999 to ask lawmakers for the hike so widespread public support could be generated during the intervening time.

“We have to respond now” to problems with the deer and elk populations and curtailed action against poachers and other game regulation violators forced by budget problems, Commission Chairman John Burns of Salmon said.

“I wish we could wait,” he said. “But I fear the world is not going to wait for us.”

Resident license fees in Idaho - among the lowest in the nation - have not risen since the early 1980s. However, Panhandle residents have generally supported fee increases to help offset the cost of big game management.

Details of the proposed increase, urged by Gov. Phil Batt during the fall, must still be worked out. Commissioners indicated they want the increase focused on the more than 200,000 hunting licenses and 250,000 deer and elk tags sold each year, because that is where the money is targeted. A decision also must be made on whether the higher fees should take effect next July or in January 1999.

Commissioners acknowledged there is little time to build public support before lawmakers convene next month but that there is broad agreement on the need for bolstering deer and elk management and enforcement. Batt had cautioned that waiting would only aggravate an already serious problem.

The commission still intends to pursue the other $4.6 million from its original fee increase plan, but it conceded that cash would finance some programs that there is controversy over, so waiting a year will provide the time needed to build public support before seeking legislative approval in 1999.

The lone dissenter to the strategy was Jeff Siddoway of Terreton, who maintained there still is widespread skepticism about the department’s operations that threatens any increase right now.

“The only thing that really changed here is the governor let it be known he would support us in any scheme we came up with,” Siddoway said.

He also suggested lawmakers will not vote two years in a row to raise license fees, and then “we really miss the boat.”

A decline in demand for what are the West’s most expensive nonresident hunting licenses and tags forced the department to initiate a $3.2 million spending cutback 15 months ago. Nonresidents account for two-thirds of all license revenue.

Declining federal funding aggravated the problem.

Department officials have repeatedly said even deeper cuts will be required without some extra revenue, and that target has to be resident licenses and fees.

“We don’t have the money now to do things we just committed ourselves to in the immediate future,” Commissioner Keith Carlson of Lewiston said.

However, the approach the panel embarked on may put it in the weakest position to obtain the entire package it sees as a long-term solution to the department’s financial problems.

In addition to putting lawmakers in the untenable position of having to vote in back-to-back sessions to raise fees paid by tens of thousands of their constituents, the decision requires the commission to deal with a new governor - all but certainly U.S. Sen Dirk Kempthorne - since Batt is not seeking a second term. Kempthorne’s position is unknown.

The deal leaves financing for programs subject to debate in the second-phase of the scheme, making it much easier for politicians to oppose.

, DataTimes