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Ransom remembered

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Northeast Power out to establish a wild pheasant population on reclaimed strip mine

<p>No one wants to pay more, myself included.</p><p>For anything.</p><p>Gas. Insurance. My hunting license.</p><p>But when it comes to the latter, I could live with the idea of ponying up a few extra bucks when I buy my next license.</p><p>The Pennsylvania Game Commission has been making a renewed push for a hunting license fee increase - from $19 to $29 the first year, followed by a pair $5 incremental increases every other year.</p><p>It&#8217;s been 16 years since the legislature last granted the agency a fee increase. The PGC&#8217;s personnel costs - despite having a few less employees, have doubled from $40 million to $82 million over the last 16 years.</p><p>Expenditures are projected to outweigh revenue by $35.5 million in a few years.</p><p>It&#8217;s time to raise the cost of a hunting license.</p><p>But the effort to keep the PGC fiscally afloat shouldn&#8217;t end there.</p><p>Cuts should be made as well.</p><p>I&#8217;m not talking about laying off employees, cutting programs or scaling back on the 220,000 pheasants the agency produces each year.</p><p>Legislators can help the Game Commission cut costs by passing a bill introduced by state Rep. Gerald Mullery that would allow hunters to purchase their doe licenses online or from issuing agents, and not just county treasurers.</p><p>If the bill were to pass, perhaps the PGC could save money by not having to print the multi-pocketed envelopes that hunters now use to mail their doe license applications to treasurers.</p><p>The agency would even realize a source of new income in the deal as well. Right now, county treasurers receive $1 for each doe license application they process. If those applications were done online, that $1 fee would go directly to the agency. So far 693,177 antlerless licenses have been sold this year. If half were purchased online, that would equate to almost $350,000 in new income for the agency.</p><p>Sure, with a projected budget shortfall of $35.5 million in a few years $350,000 is only a drop in the bucket, but it&#8217;s a start.</p><p>Perhaps a little creativity will help the PGC&#8217;s finances as well. Borrow a few ideas implemented by the Fish and Boat Commission - sell collectible hunting license buttons for $10 each and explore the feasibility of offering multi-year general hunting licenses.</p><p>Maybe it&#8217;s time that the Game Commission not only ask legislators for a license fee increase, but that the agency receive an appropriation from the state&#8217;s general fund as well. Such an appropriation could lessen the fee hike passed on to hunters and trappers.</p><p>Mullery had a good idea when I spoke to him about the issue last month. He suggested placing more of the fee hike on non-resident licenses and lessen the burden a bit on residents.</p><p>That could work with some broad marketing efforts. Our bear population is at an all-time high with plenty of enormous bruins. Let the rest of the country know that Pennsylvania is a bear hunter&#8217;s dream and maybe more non-residents wouldn&#8217;t mind paying a bit more for the chance to harvest a trophy bruin.</p><p>Still, all the aforementioned ideas won&#8217;t completely fix the PGC&#8217;s budget. A license fee increase will.</p><p>But it could be a tough sell.</p><p>There will be plenty of hunters who feel the Game Commission doesn&#8217;t deserve an increase because they&#8217;re responsible for low deer numbers in certain areas of the state. A license fee increase may be the last straw that drives disgruntled deer hunters away from the sport.</p><p>We don&#8217;t need that, but this isn&#8217;t just about deer.</p><p>It&#8217;s about keeping a wildlife agency that manages 480 species of birds and mammals and owns 1.5 million acres that we can all use, afloat.</p><p>I can tolerate paying more for that.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Venesky</p><p>tvenesky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Tom Venesky at 570-991-6395 or on Twitter @TLTomVenesky</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Paying more to keep the PGC in business