The Idaho Department of Fish and Game again is seeking legislative authority to raise resident fees.
The last time Fish and Game raised resident hunting and fishing fees was 2005, and since then the department’s costs have increased by 22 percent, according to a department news release.
At the same time, resident license sales have been flat and non-resident license sales have fallen. License and tag sales are one of two major revenue streams for Fish and Game. The other is federal money generated by taxes on hunting and fishing equipment.
As a result of poor license sales and rising costs, Fish and Game is cutting services. The department is stocking fewer fish, making fewer wildlife population surveys and leaving jobs open for longer periods of time.
It is a horrible trend that re-enforces itself: Poorer services lead to unhappy customers who spend less in the future, which leads to poorer services.
To reverse this trend, Fish and Game leadership is proposing raising resident fees.
The idea, however, has a sweetener biologists hope will make the tax increase more palatable: Regular license buyers will be exempt from the fee increase.
Fish and Game pushed the idea in 2014, calling it a loyalty program, but the full idea never received a legislative hearing. This time, they are calling it “price lock” program, and they are hoping for more statehouse support.
Simply put, you buy from Fish and Game on an annual basis and you won’t face the fee increase.
For example, Fish and Game could push for a 20 percent fee increase, which would mean a resident combination license would jump from $33.50 to $38.50. A deer tag would jump by $3.95 and an elk tag would jump by $4.80.
But under the price lock program, sportsmen who annually purchase licenses wouldn’t face the increases.
“We know that most Idahoans consider themselves to be hunters and anglers, but many don’t purchase a license and get out in the field every year,” Fish and Game Director Virgil Moore said in a news release. “If just 10 percent of intermittent license buyers started purchasing every year, license revenue would increase $1 million annually and we could improve hunting and fishing opportunities in Idaho and keep prices low.”
