1 Fish and Wildlife Funding Legislative Audit Bureau June 2006

2 Overview u DNR’s fish and wildlife activities are supported by staff in 20 different organizational units under 41 separate appropriations u Most revenues, including user fees, are deposited to the Fish and Wildlife Account of the Conservation Fund u DNR spent a total of $120.2 million for fish and wildlife activities in FY

3 Fish and Wildlife Funding Sources

4 Staffing u DNR was authorized FTE staff for fish and wildlife activities in FY u Of these, were authorized from the Fish and Wildlife Account, an increase of 3.9 FTE staff since FY u As of June 2005, DNR held 90.4 FTE positions vacant

5 User Fee Expenditures u In FY , DNR spent $68.2 million in user fees u 97.6 percent of these expenditures were for activities that benefited hunters and anglers: –57.3 percent primarily benefited hunters and anglers –29.2 percent benefited hunters, anglers, and other users –11.1 percent was for administrative costs u 2.4 percent did not directly benefit hunters and anglers

6 Accounting for Staff Time u We reviewed FY time records for all DNR employees u Fish and wildlife staff worked 30,600 hours on activities that did not directly benefit hunters and anglers u Non-fish and wildlife staff worked 43,700 hours on activities benefiting hunters and anglers u As a result, hunters and anglers benefited from the work of 7.2 full-time equivalent staff not funded by user fees

7 Administrative Costs u 1999 Wisconsin Act 9 limited DNR’s fish and wildlife administrative expenditures to 16.0 percent of annual expenditures u In FY , administrative expenditures were 11.1 percent of annual expenditures

8 Administrative Cost Comparison

9 Fish and Wildlife Account Activity

10 Accounting for Gifts and Grants u Donations of more than $1,000 are reviewed by DNR staff who send the donors letters specifying how the funds will be spent u Use of donations of more than $5,000 are approved by the Natural Resources Board u We found no instances in which donations were spent inappropriately

11 Comparison with Other States u Wisconsin ranked fifth nationally in funding for fish and wildlife activities in FY u Wisconsin ranked seventh among all states in reliance on user fees in FY

12 Fish and Wildlife Funding Legislative Audit Bureau June 2006

13 13 th Month Expenditure Transactions DepartmentNumber Natural Resources 47,740 Workforce Development 41,151 Corrections 19,520 Health and Family Services 16,965 University of Wisconsin 12,679 (FY )