Heating up on new fees

[Reggoh]

Originally Posted by MathGeek

LDWF is funded with a number of revenue streams, not just license fees, so the argument that license fees should increase with the consumer price index is invalid. MG that is like saying that LOTS of parts go into building a car... just because the price of automobiles has gone up doesn't mean the price of tires needs to go up. CPI is a generally accepted indicator of inflation. Why are license fees not subject to inflation over time? Their overall budget has grown by over 136% since the last change in the saltwater license fee. Agree... If you can show me that the OVERALL funding has gone up at the same rate of inflation as the budget in spite of the license fees staying the same then I would agree that the license fees do not warrant an increase.

But LDWF has represented that this increase is needed to allow them to take better data to better manage the fisheries. We are less than trusting in that representation for several reasons: I wholeheartedly agree with you here... But I believe these issues are separate... they can abuse the money they already get just as easily as new money. That doesn't necessarily mean that an increase in license fees is not warranted.

What if they just came out and said we are going to raise license fees from $5.50 to $13.00 effective 2014 without any reasoning besides inflation? Would that be OK? Or are you only opposed to the increase because you are suspect of where the increased funds will be spent?

They could just as easily write into a bill exactly where this money will be spent and abide by that... all the while sliding money from other areas to fund the projects you don't want.

All I'm trying to say is that whether the license increase goes through or not will not necessarily impact your reason for being suspect of budget issues that you don't agree with. Those things are still going to go on unless something is done to change them.