Wildlife Boss Says Dated System Led To Bad Budget Shanks Says Computers Will Better Track Revenues From License Sales

Bern Shanks, the embattled state Fish and Wildlife Department director, on Friday blamed the agency’s budget crisis on erroneous 1996 revenue projections that were based on information from an antiquated licensing system.

Shanks, who remains on the hot seat while the commission examines who knew what and when, said he inherited the problems when he was hired two years ago. He suggested that he and his new comptroller should be credited for working to fix them.

The Fish and Wildlife Commission, the panel that directs agency policy and hired Shanks, has been investigating the source of the budget crisis in a series of closed-door executive sessions over the past few weeks, and speculation has been rampant that Shanks could be on the way out.

The commission held another private meeting Friday in Seattle.

Several commissioners have expressed anger over the sudden disclosure just as the Legislature was wrapping up its work for the year that the agency was facing a projected budget shortfall of $17 million in 1999.

That revelation, since revised to $16 million, subjected commissioners to the wrath of lawmakers forced to revise a state spending plan that was nearly complete at the time.

“Ultimately, I’m responsible in the breakdown of communication with the commission,” Shanks said Friday. “My point is mistakes were made a long time ago. My new comptroller caught the problem.”

Shanks normally meets with a few outdoors writers in informal question-and-answer sessions. But Friday’s session turned into a full-blown news conference with television and print media, prompting him to joke about the continuing “Bern Shanks deathwatch.”

Shanks has attributed the shortfall to declining sales of hunting and fishing licenses, a trend showing up in other Western states as fish and game decline and people spend more time hiking and birdwatching and otherwise enjoying the outdoors.

Shanks hired a new comptroller in October, Jim Lux, who said he didn’t become aware of the shortfall until a few months later. Shanks said the erroneous projections were based on outdated and inefficient licensing systems. It takes weeks to track license sales and collect revenues because records are kept by hand at hundreds of shops around the state.

In the revised state operating budget sent to the governor this week, the Legislature agreed to provide $1 million to shift the licensing system from paper to computers.

Lawmakers rejected the agency’s emergency request for $6.8 million from the state general fund. Instead, they offered a $3.5 million loan. But the loan and the computer system won’t be enough to balance the Fish and Wildlife Department’s books. The policy commission is now considering plans to lay off as many as 90 people - the actual number likely will be lower due to current vacancies - and to sell some assets.