Phil Anderson recently gave a high level presentation on WDFW budget woes.

One of the glaring items in that powerpoint was the ungodly sum spent on administering the sale of hunting and fishing licenses.

Are you ready?

$12.9 million.

J F C! $12.9 frickin million!

Compare that to what it costs to run the entire fish program.... $22.6 million.

Compare that to what it costs to run the entire enforcement arm... $19.8 million.

That's 57% of the entire fish program expenditure.... and 65% of the entire enforcement expenditure.

Just too sell Joe Q Public a license to participate?

Cripes! For that kind of cash, we should have an online catch reporting app, and maybe something that stands up to water better than the paper catch cards....

That seems awful high. I hope it was a typo, maybe 1 extra 0. While I'm not fully conversant on the WDFW license process, I know that they contract (as do many other states) with a vendor who runs the computer system. I don't know what the contract costs but it is probably cheaper than the agency owning the equipment and trying to maintain it.

I think life was a lot easier in the last century when license agents had books of licenses and they were filled out by hand....officers had a much better handle on residency issues (especially in the rural districts).

Comeon Doc, can't you see the benefits and cost savings of contracting to the private sector? Its always cheaper and more efficient to let the private sector do things, right?

Not sure who holds the contract now, but check out this old news release.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/news/mar2700a/
What about a year before the biggest pre-2008 acounting scandal in US history.

What a boondogle.

BTW,

Looks like they're hiring a new manager. Certainly not spending most of the 12 Mil on the rank & file
https://www.governmentjobs.com/jobs/851356/licensing-system-wild-manager-it-specialist-5

So, how much do they take in from license sales vs cost of administration. I'm not a buisness major, but it would seem that if they are not making at least a 60% mark up someone should lose their job! (Oh wait, that already happened!)

There is no accountability. Not in funding, not in administration and certainly not in management. It is no wonder the state natural resources are in the sad condition they are in. Politics, greed and incompetency! The perfect storm.

From the job announcement, this outlines the revenues raised through license sales:

The Licensing Division is the business agent for WDFW relating to the sales, distribution, accounting, and customer and retail dealer support to optimize agency revenue and maintain compliance for the issuance of recreational and commercial licenses permits and other products and disability applications. Revenue exceeds $110M/yr through Internet/phone, counter sales and a 700 retail dealers and $1.1M from 6,000 commercial licenses.

Wow... Makes the cost of license sales seem less outrageous (although it's clearly too much). Also makes it look like recreational license sales account for 100x the revenue associated with commercial license sales. Hmmmm....

Recreational fihsing accounts for 100x to 1000x everything more than the commercial sector does, one of the many reasons to stop subsidizing them and flushing all those dollars down the toilet.

Fish on...

Todd

According to the document you posted the private company administering the software gets a 10% transaction fee for each purchase. It doesn't imply any other state funding. $110MM *10% = 11 million a year give or take for the company running the software. It is probably higher since 2008.

WDFW needs $12.9MM to run the department (that hires the company administering the software). So the total cost to run the licensing division is $25MM give or take for $110MM revenue. When they set the yearly budget for the licensing department it is probably one of the easiest to approve. They are a direct revenue source.

Honestly, $25MM to administer $110MM revenue does not seem that high to me for a government agency combined with a contractor, but I am not sure what the $12.9 MM is spent on. There is probably good reason for outrage, but I wouldn't be able to see it on its face.

Geoduck, it is so much easier for a private company to keep up with changing technology than it is for a Gov't agency. The purchasing flexibility of a contractor alone make it much more efficient for any technology process. I would say that the WILD system is much better for the end-user than what we used to do. Does anyone disagree?

A CRC app would be awesome. I was trying to fill out my p-card in a downpour last weekend and it was just dumb.

Good write-up RR.

I've lost all perspective with this in my back yard: http://www.hanfordchallenge.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/FY-2013-2014-2015-Budget-Cheat-Sheet.pdf

Another vote for an iPhone/Android CRC app! That would kick ass.

You must have only been looking at the Wildlife account spending. See the charts on this link:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/about/budget/

The licensing total of $12.8 is correct but the programs (Fish and enforcement) get funding from the State General Fund as well.

So many good reasons to have a catch reporting app... Ease of use, real-time catch data (at least some), less staff time entering catch card data, government awards for technological excellence in fisheries management....

A 10% per transaction fee is highway robbery. Even Bank of America doesn't get nearly that much. That contract needs to be re-negotiated. It would cost the agency immensely less to buy the software and hire an FTE or two to maintain it in house. Don't get me wrong; I'm a believer in software as a service, but an annual figure of $12M to manage license sales sounds like a different kind of "servicing" to me.

I have no idea how the computer contractor got the job. If it is a straight up competitive bid-process then the contractor is probably making about 7% profit on his $11MM. I don't have a problem with it. Again I have no idea what they actually do, or what the deliverable even is. If maintenance of the vendor network and equipment is part of it then it could be substantial work to upkeep.

If there is collusion (no-bid process, sole sourcing, etc) then that 7% could be much different and dirty.

6000 commercial licenses seem like a lot...

But then I'm not sure who is included in "commercial" .

I do know that gill netters are allow a low catch to keep the license, was told that other gill netters give them enough fish, to keep license going....so write offs can be continued.

Drifter -
There is a surprising variety of commercial licenses/fisheries/species.

They include a variety of salmon licenses, bottomfish. baitfish, carp, dogfish, geoducks, smelt, oyster, crawfish, razor clam, burrowing shrimp, pink shrimp, spot prawn, sea cucumber, sea urchin, whiting and maybe others.

In total it adds up and something folks loss sight of is that the salmon commercial industry is only a small part (both numerically and economically) of the total overall commercial industry in the State.

Curt

Curt:

I knew about many of those.....would be kinda of interesting to see the kinds of commercial licenses and just how many people hold those.

I'm sure its all out there.....just wonder if that is "public information"????

Guess I could use the "pdr request" format.....

This.


I, too, was fumbling with the CRC gymnastics Sunday in a pretty good rain. There has GOT to be a better way…….or at least a better paper that when wet, accepts an ink pen.

I had a good discussion with a local warden a few years ago about this very thing and he completely sympathized. He said, as far as he was concerned, if it appears you made a good faith effort to fill out your card in a driving rain but it wasn't entirely legible, it's not likely to result in a ticket.

That's all good but I'm one of those types that likes to do it right the first time and be done with it. That crap they call CRC paper ain't it. Always wondered why they don't use the waterproof paper you often see surveyors, foresters and bios use in the field?

Apparently 12.5 million doesn't buy as much as it used to

RCW 77.65 will give you a breakdown on most of the commercial fishing licenses....there are a bunch of them plus the wholesale and retail buyers/sellers.....


http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=77.65

It will require a PDR to the Department of Licensing. Someone I know just had to go through that. WDF&W tried to get the commercials names & addresses for them but Licensing said pound nails do a PDR.