Dec

11

Budget Hearings Recap #5

Filed Under Uncategorized 

The last House Appropriations and Budget Subcommittee meeting OFRG attended this week was natural Resources and Regulatory Services on Thursday.  The notes are printed below.  A reminder that there will be a meeting of the full A&B Committee on Tuesday afternoon at 1 pm which will feature a State of the Budget presentation and reports from all of the subcommittee chairmen.  OFRG will, of course, be attending the meeting and will provide a running commentary on Twitter for those unable to attend.  go to www.twitter.com/OFRGnews and follow us to stay updated!

Dept. of Tourism - we continue to perform mission.  6.9% cut leading into this fiscal year.  Ongoing efficiencies include: fewer seasonal employees, deferred equipment replacement, has shared service agreement with other agencies to save, deferring computer hardware replacement, energy savings, reduced marketing efforts.

We’re part of the solution, part of the economy and you don’t want that to disappear.  $3.3M decrease included 42 position vacancies.  Doing much more contracting.  Furlough program initiated (1 day/month for next 4 months for those above $35K, fewer for those making less).  60 positions eligible for retirement, but some are critical and may not be offered.  Deferring more maintenance (mowing reduced to less than once per week).  More aggressive seasonal closing.  We increased fees for second time in 18 months (first was to get OK more in line with surrounding states).  We can’t continue to raise fees to make up for lost revenue because we’d become uncompetitive w/ surrounding states. 

Rep. Dale DeWitt: you’re going to have more cuts, how do you deal with that?  Answer: Buyouts will help.

We’re at the bone.  If we go to 10% cut, we’d have to talk about closure of parks.  Most of our parks are on land we lease from the Corps of Engineers.  Many of our facilities have been improved with federal conservation funds.  If we have a smaller park system, we would have to pay back those federal funds.  There are processes to go through that would delay any savings.  Reduce hours at visitor service centers.

35% of our reservations come from North Texas ZIP codes, so we’re part of the economic solution for the state.

We spend between $5.5 and $6-million on marketing.  We get $50 for every dollar spent on marketing.

Scenic Rivers Commission - would like to be able to set commercial float licenses on Illinois River from the board and index them to cost of living.  Burden now is on people that rent boats, not on those with private boats.  There should be annual fee for those.  Expand jurisdiction to include another 3.5 miles of the Illinois River.  We will generate about $80K to the agency in this way.  We issue about 600 citations per year, but we don’t get any of the fees.  Perhaps a $5 or $10 assessment on each would help SRC pay for law enforcement.

Will Rogers Memorial - attendance at museum and birthplace ranch both trending upwards (counting system not accurate, so specific numbers can’t be detailed).  Also showing increase in where visitors are from.  2/3 of those visiting museum are from out of state (45 states and 13 foreign countries).  Museum sales are up as well after a dip in 2008.

Took steps before fiscal year to reduce costs in natural gas and custodial contracts.  Reduced travel, maintenance costs.  Since 5% cuts, eliminated overtime, reduced advertising by a third.  Staff furloughs could be enacted, office furniture could be delayed and custodial contract cancelled.

Doesn’t charge admission, hard to say whether doing so would reduce attendance.  A lot of time has passed since original statute passed saying the museum should be free.  Rogers family may be amenable.

Horse Racing Commission- doing well considering the times.  Pari-mutuel betting down 10%, but gaming up 10%.

Blue Ribbon now closed, but it did poorly compared to Will Rogers and Remington park.  50 new machines coming to Remington Park should more than make up for Blue Ribbon revenue.

Leaving positions unfilled.  Returned lease vehicles to Central Services.  Changed cellular service, limited travel.  Could save $50K by taking pari-mutuel auditing in-house, but would need legislation to do that.

Cuts have put us at bare bones.  Furloughs are last resort which would have consequences.  Means fewer races and reduced/no gaming.    My revenue to the state will cease if I can’t have my workers going the minimum days possible.

If we’re cut any more, ever dollar cut would eliminate $2.50 in state revenue.  Had $92K in carryover, for next year it will be $0.

Department of Labor - didn’t have any equipment-related accidents at major fairs.  Virtually everybody we have require certifications which are hard to find.  We left three positions vacant in case of allocation reductions.  Additional 5% cut will put us in a squeeze.  We’d like to adjust fees to consumer price index.

Find ways to incentivize savings in agencies.

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