Under scrutiny
U.P. sportsmen question DNR budgetBy JOHN PEPIN, Journal Staff Writer
Article Photos
Alliance President G. Dale McNamee of Escanaba said the request stems from a recent budget crisis within the DNR, resulting in the agency seeking to hike hunting and fishing license fees to support expenditures from the Game and Fish Protection Fund.
Ultimately, the DNR was able to balance the fund, ending the 2006-07 fiscal year with a $10.1 million fund balance. The reconciliation was made possible through increased license sales, services being curtailed and the DNR adhering to executive budget spending restrictions put in place last year by Granholm.
Despite the reconciliation, the DNR is projecting future deficits in the years ahead. DNR Director Rebecca Humphries said earlier this month the agency would work to better communicate budget matters to the public and develop more realistic spending and revenue projections.
Consequently, Granholm’s office does not plan to investigate on behalf of the alliance.
“We do not believe there is a need for an investigation. We believe that the concerns are being addressed by the director and the department,” said Megan Brown, a communications representative in Granholm’s Lansing office. “Our administration appreciates the concerns of the U.P. Sportsman’s Alliance group and that is why Director Humphries has already taken steps to change the department’s budgeting process - including monthly budget reports to the Natural Resources Commission, which will enhance the process and make it more transparent.”
McNamee said his organization is dissatisfied with the way the DNR conducts business.
“It is felt that the sportspeople of this state, as well as department field personnel and several important management programs within the department, were held hostage and subjected to coercive behavior throughout the process,” he said.
For example, the alliance strongly objects to the DNR using some funding from the Game and Fish Protection Fund for non-game species programs, McNamee said.
Mary Dettloff, a DNR spokeswoman in Lansing, concedes some fish and game funding pays for non-game programming, but given funding problems, there are no alternatives.
“It’s a common complaint that we hear, but it’s just a fiscal reality given the erosion of general fund monies over the last 10 years,” Dettloff said.
McNamee said, “The shortfall, if one exists, has resulted not only from reductions in general funding from the Legislature and a decrease in license sales, but also by the spending priorities and expansion of non-funded programs within the agency and their support with fish and game funds.”
Dettloff said laws restrict spending from the fund.
“The federal government audits us every year. We are very careful how we spend that money,” Dettloff said. “We have to be.”
Dettloff said the DNR’s financial transactions are open to the public.
“Anyone can come and sit down with our budget staff and go through our books,” Dettloff said. “We welcome that.”
McNamee said the alliance is asking state Sen. Michell McManus, R-Lake Leelanau, to form a committee to investigate the DNR. McManus serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, where she is the chair of the DNR subcommittee.
Upper Peninsula legislators have been asked to urge Granholm’s office to follow through on the investigation request. The NRC is being asked to follow the investigations and take any appropriate steps necessary to correct problems within the DNR.
McNamee said though the alliance is interested in how the state came up with the $10.1 million balance, the group is most interested in the DNR tactics and methods used to threaten staff and program cuts.
“We’re much more concerned with what’s gone on over the year,” he said. “Could we do it better? We’re paying for these Cadillac programs when we can’t afford the Chevrolet we’re paying for.”
