Audit planned for DNR account (again)
By Dean Bortz Editor
Madison - Suspicion about DNR spending has another audit aimed at the agency's fish and wildlife account, which is fueled primarily by sportsmen's hunting, fishing, and trapping license fees.
The Joint Audit Committee voted 7-1 to allow that audit to go forward following a July 19 hearing. Legislators seeking the audit include Rep. Scott Suder (R-Abbotsford), Sen. Joe Leibham (R-Sheboygan), and Sen. Dave Zien (R-Eau Claire).
Suder said he was never satisfied with the results of the 1998 DNR audit. He wants this audit to dig deeper and reveal exactly how the DNR spends sportsmen's dollars.
DNR budget guru, Joe Polasek, attended the hearing. He said the DNR welcomes the audit.
"We don't have a problem with the audit. Since the audit of 1998, we've made a lot of changes for monitoring expenditures and accountability, based on recommendations from the Legislative Audit Bureau," he said.
Suder said he hopes Polasek is right.
"The audit can only shed more light. If they are doing their job, great," Suder said. "The DNR has been saying it needs more money from sportsmen. If that's the case, they should be able to tell sportsmen where that money is going."
If the DNR is spending license money appropriately, the audit will reflect that and questions from sportsmen and legislators will be answered, he said. However, Suder said he is being told the DNR is spending too much license fee money on administrative overhead - upwards of 20 percent of license fees.
Earlier this year at more than one meeting, DNR secretary Scott Hassett said that's not true. At the January Conservation Congress Executive Council meeting and again at a sportsmen's forum in March, Hassett said the DNR spends less than 16 percent of its budget on administrative costs, which is required by law.
Hassett said the DNR spends 10 percent, or less, of the budget on those costs.
Polasek said Suder might still be looking at figures from the 1998 audit, which put DNR administrative spending at 23 percent of its budget.
No matter what the audit finds, Leibham said sportsmen want to support the DNR fish and wildlife account through license purchases, but they also want to know that the money is being spent properly.
"We are hearing that dollars are being diverted to administrative areas. My goal with the audit is to get that answer," Leibham said.
Leibham, Suder, and Zien listed a few areas that they want the audit to delve into, including personal miles put on state vehicles. Suder said that interest stems from the Department of Corrections findings that prison wardens were using state vehicles without reimbursing the state for personal miles.
"I want to find out if the same thing is going on with the DNR's game wardens," Leibham said. "I don't know if that's occurring, but that's one thing we will ask the auditors to look into."
DNR conservation wardens are allowed to use squad trucks for personal use, but must reimburse the state 17 cents per mile.
Suder also said the DNR should not be using fish and wildlife money to buy vehicles for its fleet.
"We want to find out once and for all how this money is being used," Suder said. "That's tough to pin down. We're asking for a far more extensive audit (than in 1998) and that may take longer to do. The last audit did an overview. We're asking this audit to do a precise accounting and delve into where the money was spent."
Suder used CWD purchases as another example of items he wants auditors to investigate. He said he heard rumors the DNR bought rifles, scopes, ammo, and spotlights at a sporting goods store to set up sharpshooters to shoot deer for CWD testing. If that's true, he wonders why the DNR couldn't have used equipment confiscated from poachers.
"I heard the rumor, asked the question, and never got an answer," Suder said. "The fact that they haven't responded leads me to believe they have problems."
On a broader scale, Leibham wants auditors to review DNR accounting procedures and the extent to which the DNR spends license dollars on fish and wildlife projects or programs.
Legislators expect the audit to be completed by the spring of 2006.
http://www.wisconsinoutdoornews.com/articles/2005/07/29//news/news1.txt
