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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Stewart

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1-16-2008

HB 5

SHORT TITLE Department of Game and Fish Appropriation Act

SB

ANALYST Woods

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$333.1

Recurring

General Fund

$12,288.3

Recurring

Federal Funds

$23,687.8

Recurring

Other/Fund Balance

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act, Section 4 for the Department of

Game and Fish.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Report of the Legislative Finance Committee to the Forty-Eighth Legislature, Second Session,

January 2008 for Fiscal Year 2009, Volume II, pp. 195 – 200.

Responses Received From

Department of Game and Fish

SUMMARY

This bill contains the FY 2009 Operating Budget appropriation for the Department of Game and

Fish. It appropriates money for six budgeted funds under the jurisdiction of the State Game

Commission and the Department. The amounts contained in this bill represent the Legislative

Finance Committee recommendation and maintain funding levels contained in the agency budget

request.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The amounts in the bill are consistent with the agency request. This bill recommends an

expansion of 1.00 FTE in the Administration program (P719) to support increasing online

hunting and fishing license sales. The additional budget recommended for this position is $60.0,

House Bill 5 – Page 2

funded from license sales revenue. In comparison to the FY 2008 Operating Budget of

$35,856.4, this recommendation reflects General Fund appropriations of $333.1 in FY 2009; no

change in Other Transfers; a decrease in Federal Funding from $12,778.7 in FY 2008, to

$12,288.3 in FY 2009, a decrease of $(490.4); a decrease in Other Program Revenue from

21,304.5 in FY 08, to 20,864.0 in FY 2009; a decrease of $(440.5); an increase in Fund Balance

from $1,455.1 in FY 2008, to $2,758.8 in FY 2009; an increase of $1,303.7. The total net effect

from FY 2008 to FY 2009 is an increase of $452.8.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

The LFC recommendation recognizes agency performance and performance exceptions.

Accordingly, the LFC budget recommendation funds agency operations at levels which support

performance goals and objectives as follows:

Sport Hunting and Fishing Program- The target levels for the four performance measures in this

program are consistent with FY 2008 target levels:

•

Angler opportunity and success remain at 80%, the same level as in FY 2008.

•

Number of days of elk hunting opportunity provided to New Mexico resident hunters on

an annual basis remains at 165,000.

•

Percent of public hunting licenses drawn by New Mexico hunters remains at 80%.

•

Annual output of fish in pounds of the Department’s hatchery systems is 425,000, the

same as the FY 2008 target.

Conservation Services Program- The performance measures for Conservation Services that are

tied to this recommendation are as follows:

•

Number of threatened and endangered species studied and involved in the recovery plan

process is 35, which is the same as FY 2008 target.

•

Number of acres of wildlife habitat conserved, enhanced or positively affected statewide

remains at 100,000 the same as FY 2008 target.

Wildlife Depredation and Nuisance Abatement Program- The one performance measure for this

program remains the same for FY 2009 as in FY 2008.

•

Percent of depredation complaints resolved within one year remains at 95%.

Administration Program- The FY 2009 recommendation contains one performance measure for

the Administration Program.

•

Percent of special hunt applications processed without error is 99.8%.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

This bill increases the Department’s FTE level by 1.0 in the Administration Program. The

following sections summarize the fiscal impact of this recommendation to each of the

Department’s Programs:

•

Sport Hunting and Fishing Program- The appropriation proposed for this program is

$20,097.9, which is the same amount the Department requested. It supports 197.0 FTE

with Salaries and Benefits (200 category) amount being $12,772.2, Contractual Services

(300 category) being $1,290.2, Other Services (400 category) being $5,538.2 and

Operating Transfers (500 category) being $497.3.

House Bill 5 – Page 3

•

Conservation Services- The appropriation proposed for this program is $7,745.3, which

is the same amount the Department requested. It supports 40.5 FTE with Salaries and

Benefits (200 category) amount being $2,557.5, Contractual Services (300 category)

$1,540.4, and Other Services (400 category) $3,647.4.

•

Wildlife Depredation and Nuisance Abatement Program- The appropriation for this

program is $1,195.1, which is the same amount the Department requested. It supports

5.0 FTE with Salaries and Benefits (200 category) $339.1, Contractual Services (300

category) $179.7 and Other Services (400 category) $727.3.

•

Administration Program- The base appropriation proposed for this program is $7,270.9,

which is the same amount requested by the Department. It supports 60.0FTE, which is

1.0 FTE higher than in FY 2007 with Salaries and Benefits (200 category) $4,451.7,

Contractual Services (300 category) $586.2, and Other Services (400 category) $2,233.0.

BW/bb