Fish and Game officials say the department faces layoffs this spring if it doesn't get help.
They were at the State House this week asking for a portion of the rooms and meals tax.
NHPR's David Darman reports.
More than 70 people came to testify at Wednesday's House Ways & Means Committee hearing.
And nearly all of them urged lawmakers to find the funds Fish & Game needs.
Executive Director Lee Perry said he hoped the committee would vote to dedicate to his agency 4 percent of the rooms and meals tax that usually goes into the general fund.
..this amounts to a little over four million dollars. i think you talk about figures here, some between 4.2, 4.3, 4.6. its going to depend on which year we're talking about.
Currently Fish & Game receives about 50,000 dollars of state money.
For years, the agency has been able to function smoothly with federal funds and fees that come mostly from hunting and fishing licenses.
But sales of those licenses have been declining in the last decade, leaving Fish & Game with fewer dollars for wildlife and fish stock management.
Republican Representative Robert L'Heureux of Merrimack argued that thanks to the work of Fish & Game, tourists are drawn to the state.
And so he says the agency should get some of the tax money generated by those tourists.
people come to nh to see moose. i go to pittsburg several times a year. i know firsthand that people go to pittsburg to see moose. they will go, they will rent cabins, and they will do everything they can to see moose.
Fish & Game also provides services such as Search and Rescue, snowmobile safety courses, and control of rabid animals.
The agency pays for them out its own budget, without reimbursement from the state.
Fish and Game officials say they can't keep providing these services without getting at least one point six million dollars from lawmakers.
Director Lee Perry said that's the least the agency needs to avoid job cuts.
But Perry told the committee when agency officials look at what they really need, what they're asking for is much higher.
we actually set a goal of trying to raise about six million dollars to get us back into the situation where we would have the monies coming in where we would cover the increases in costs that we've had, put us in some kind of rotation cycle for vehicles and maintenance of equipment and lands, doing boundaries on properties and things of that nature.
Fish & Game has been trying to find a way to get state funding since 2005.
But so far, proposals in the Legislature to raise money have fallen flat.
This year, there are new bills to level fees on some boaters and salt water anglers.
Those fees could raise at least one million dollars.
Democrat Susan Almy of Lebanon chairs the Ways & Means Committee.
She admits Fish & Game needs the funds.
She just doesn't know where they're going to get it.
anything that we take out of the general fund at this point comes out of nursing homes, it comes out of the court system, its comes of the jails that we're under court mandate to fix. its comes out of a whole bunch of things that the other citizens of the state are also depending on....
Some ideas floating around the Legislature would reform or restructure Fish & Game.
One would go so far as to study having the agency absorbed by other state agencies.
Another would look at merging Fish & Game's law enforcement function with that of Marine Patrol.
Republican Representative Peyton Hinkle of Merrimack.
maybe the department needs to be reorganized. separate out the hunting and the fishing functions from the other wildlife and conservation functions and search and rescue and that kind of thing. and then have the license fees fund the fish and game part of it. and then have the general fund money fund the other part of it.
Governor John Lynch has said he supports efforts to fix what's wrong at Fish & Game.
In that light, he could include a request for fundd in his budget proposal next week.
But the Governor has also said he's keeping an open mind for new ideas.
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I thank Mr. Darman for his fine report of the hearing on HB 376 held by the House Ways & Means Committee. I would like to add that in my testimony in opposition to HB 376, I suggested that, prior to allocating any new and permanent funds to NH Fish & Game Department (NH F&G), it would be prudent for the Legislature to wait for the report of the full performance audit of NH F&G that is just getting underway and will proceed during 2007. In my opinion, NH F&G is an agency more in need of fixing than funding, and the audit report should reveal the path to beneficial fixes.
I also recommended changing or eliminating the antiquated 11-member Fish & Game Commission that does not represent the broad general public and is comprised of only hunters, anglers and trappers, though they have complete policy-making authority over this entire agency, including the Nongame Program, which otherwise is striving as an agency to be modern and meet today's needs.
Not least, I suggested that the Legislature require that there be broad representation of the NH public at NH F&G to match any general fund dollars, because, to do otherwise, would amount to "taxation without representation" that I think is offensive in a democracy.
Sincerely,
Suzanne L. Fournier, M.S.
Independent Specialist on the NH Fish & Game Department
Milford, NH
AnimalFriendlySolutions@comcast.net