Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission
Finance Committee
Aug. 30, 2000
Commission Hearing RoomTexas Parks & Wildlife Department Headquarters Complex
4200 Smith School Road
Austin, TX 78744
1
7 BE IT REMEMBERED that heretofore on the
8 30th day of August, 2000, there came on to be
9 heard matters under the regulatory authority of
10 the Parks and Wildlife Commission of Texas, in
11 the Commission Hearing Room of the Texas Parks
12 and Wildlife Headquarters Complex, Austin,
13 Texas, beginning at 12:07 p.m to wit:
14
15
APPEARANCES:
16 THE PARKS AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION:
FINANCE COMMITTEE:
17 Chair: Dick W. Heath
Lee M. Bass
18 Carol E. Dinkins
Ernest Angelo, Jr.
19 Nolan Ryan
John Avila, Jr.
20 Alvin L. Henry
Katharine Armstrong Idsal
21 Mark E. Watson, Jr.
22 THE PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT:
Andrew H. Sansom, Executive Director, and other
23 personnel of the Parks and Wildlife Department
24
25
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78230
(210) 377-3027 1-800-969-3027 (210) 344-6016
. 2
1 AUGUST 30, 2000
2
3 CHAIR HEATH: Thank you very much,
4 sir. There's no need for reading of Vernon's
5 Civil Statutes since we've remained in
6 session. You-all have received copies of the
7 committee minutes from the last meeting here in
8 Austin. If -- Are there any comments? If not,
9 I'd move for approval.
10 COMMISSIONER WATSON: So moved.
11 CHAIR HEATH: Second.
12 COMMISSIONER DINKINS: Second.
13 CHAIR HEATH: Motion and a second.
14 All in favor?
15 ALL COMMISSIONERS: Aye.
16 (No response, and motion carries
17 unanimously.)
18 CHAIR HEATH: Not -- Not currently in
19 your books, Committee, are the minutes from the
20 meeting that we held in Dallas. Those we'll
21 get to you before the afternoon is -- is
22 completed.
23 And I'm going to ask people to please
24 respect the Committee's need to hear one
25 another. Thank you.
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78230
(210) 377-3027 1-800-969-3027 (210) 344-6016
. 3
1 This being said, we have a briefing on the
2 Chairman's charges. Andy.
3 ITEM NO. 1 - BRIEFING - CHAIRMAN'S CHARGES.
4 MR. SANSOM: Very briefly,
5 Mr. Chairman, we'd signed a contract with
6 MCI WorldCom to serve as a carrier for our
7 license point of sale. Those licenses under
8 the new system will be available in the next
9 license year. On your agenda today and
10 tomorrow is a request for approval of four park
11 transfers. This was directly related to our
12 charges to try to see if we could find partners
13 for properties that would be more appropriately
14 managed by others, and I will just tell you
15 that the preliminary numbers for this year's
16 Big Time Texas Hunts are absolutely great. Our
17 total -- total estimated sales to date are over
18 29,000. This is 41 percent of total sales for
19 1999 with two months left to go.
20 CHAIR HEATH: Wonderful. Thank you,
21 Andy.
22 AGENDA ITEM NO. 2: ACTION - FY2001 OPERATING
23 AND CAPITAL BUDGETS AND TEXAS PARKS AND
24 WILDLIFE INVESTMENT POLICY
25 CHAIR HEATH: The next item is an
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78230
(210) 377-3027 1-800-969-3027 (210) 344-6016
. 4
1 action item. It's to discuss the operating and
2 capital budget and the Parks and Wildlife
3 investment policy.
4 Suzy.
5 What we've asked Suzy to do today,
6 Committee, is to give us a brief overview of
7 the operating capital budgets' and our
8 investment policy. At our last meeting I think
9 the majority of us had an opportunity to
10 comment and give input and asked staff to go
11 back and give us some revisions from there.
12 So Suzy, if you would give us, again in
13 the interest of time, give us a brief
14 overview. It will go into more depth tomorrow.
15 MS. WHITTENTON: Okay. Thank you,
16 Mr. Chairman, Commissioners. I'll spend most
17 of the time today talking about budget
18 highlights and then answering the questions
19 that came up and also briefly discussing or
20 giving an update on the appropriations
21 request.
22 This pie chart on cash available by source
23 shows that over half of our funding comes from
24 the Game Fish and Water Safety Account,
25 Account 9, with the State Parks Account as the
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78230
(210) 377-3027 1-800-969-3027 (210) 344-6016
. 5
1 next largest source of revenue. We also take
2 into account bonds, local park accounts and
3 general revenue in determining the amount of
4 funds available in setting our budget.
5 This year, as we mentioned at the last
6 meeting, we have less appropriation authority
7 than we have cash, especially in Account 64,
8 the parks account, so we budgeted to the
9 appropriations level, rather than the cash
10 available level. We received requests for --
11 from the division directors for about
12 $192 million in operating budgets, and after
13 reviewing the needs and appropriations
14 available, the staff's recommending an
15 operating budget of $188 million.
16 Capital budget requests came in at 28 1/2
17 and we're recommending 27 1/2 after looking at
18 what was needed. We also have a recommended
19 grant budget of just over $30 million, most of
20 which is for local parks.
21 All added up, the total budget
22 recommendation is at approximately $245
23 million. This will allow us to budget the full
24 amount of appropriation authority and to
25 address the Legislature's concern about leaving
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78230
(210) 377-3027 1-800-969-3027 (210) 344-6016
. 6
1 unexpended balances. We've budgeted as much as
2 possible.
3 I've identified six issues here to briefly
4 discuss an impact on the budget. The first
5 one I already mentioned was the limited
6 appropriations authority.
7 The second item there I thought you needed
8 to be aware of was that we made a tough
9 business decision to close the print shop,
10 agency print shop. We've been directed by the
11 legislature to consider outsourcing as much as
12 possible and we took a look at the comparison
13 of having a print shop in house versus
14 outsourcing printing, and it was real clear
15 after looking at the numbers that the best
16 thing to do for the Department was to close the
17 print shop.
18 The next couple of slides will -- will
19 address outreach and allocated interest on
20 stamp funds in more detail. Other items that
21 impacted the budget were reclassifications. We
22 did some salary studies that we've talked about
23 that resulted in increased personnel costs and
24 that was a big -- had a big impact on this
25 budget.
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78230
(210) 377-3027 1-800-969-3027 (210) 344-6016
. 7
1 And lastly there, we -- In past approp --
2 In past appropriations bills, we had a rider to
3 those appropriations that allowed us -- that
4 we refer to as the entrepreneurial rider that
5 allowed us to budget funds that we -- revenues
6 that we received in excess of what we
7 expected. And we lost that rider at the
8 last -- during the last session and that has
9 had an impact. That would be revenues like
10 concession income that normally we would be
11 able to take it and reappropriate it and we're
12 no longer able to do that, so we have less
13 appropriations to work with.
14 At the -- At the August 10th meeting, we
15 talked about trends in outreach dollars, and so
16 I wanted to show you a chart real briefly that
17 shows the increase in effort that Parks and
18 Wildlife is doing to -- to do more outreach.
19 We -- These numbers are based strictly on the
20 outreach grants and the money that we spend in
21 education. It's increased
22 66 percent since 1999 and then we've included
23 another 9 percent increase between the years
24 2000 and 2001 to do, so it adds up to
25 approximately $3.8 million for the coming
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78230
(210) 377-3027 1-800-969-3027 (210) 344-6016
. 8
1 budget year.
2 CHAIR HEATH: Just one comment, Suzy,
3 on -- on out -- Outreach is an important
4 subject certainly from our last -- our last
5 meeting. I just want to reiterate that this --
6 the amount of money here that we're talking
7 about is directly related to outreach grants in
8 the education budget and outreach is an
9 embedded part of the culture of this
10 Department, and I think what we specifically
11 want to work to look at in the future is
12 outreach as related directly to urban outreach
13 and to bringing customers, if you will, into
14 the fold and the things that we are responsible
15 for as this -- as this Commission.
16 And I've asked the executive director to
17 specifically going forward ask Department heads
18 to begin to break out specific numbers relating
19 to outreach as they can identify it as
20 addressing the building of our customer base
21 and the building of youth involvement,
22 specifically in -- in all of the -- of our
23 endeavors.
24 So historically, as I say, it's been a
25 cultural thing, a part of what we do
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78230
(210) 377-3027 1-800-969-3027 (210) 344-6016
. 9
1 automatically going forward, we've asked that
2 specifically we identify outreach either as a
3 budget line, and I'm not sure exactly how we
4 will do that yet, but I just wanted to comment
5 on that, and, Commissioner Henry, particularly
6 for your interest and your efforts in this
7 area.
8 COMMISSIONER HENRY: Thank you,
9 Mr. Chairman.
10 MS. WHITTENTON: We budgeted an
11 additional $250,000 over and above the prev --
12 the current year for next year for a project
13 where we would have a person in each of the
14 major urban areas and I think we've got Dallas,
15 Houston, and San Antonio. We're going to add
16 three FTEs to coordinate outreach in those
17 areas.
18 We also discussed at the last meeting
19 how -- what method we're using to allocate
20 interest on the stamp funds, and I wanted to
21 briefly update you on that. We are allocating
22 interest in this budget for earnings on
23 interest -- interest earnings on waterfowl,
24 white water, turkey, and trout stamps for
25 this -- for 2001. The amount, it adds up to
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78230
(210) 377-3027 1-800-969-3027 (210) 344-6016
. 10
1 about $321,000 our estimate does, and we'll go
2 ahead and budget the estimate up front, but
3 throughout the year what we'll do is we will
4 look at the actual interest earnings and
5 journal entry them into those dedicated --
6 those dedicate -- into those dedications.
7 The estimate was based on a 5.6 percent
8 interest rate and we multiplied that by the
9 average ending monthly balance in each of those
10 dedications, so that will be -- We'll be doing
11 that throughout the year to make sure that the
12 exact interest earned is -- is moved to the
13 dedications.
14 At the last meeting, we also talked about
15 what our -- our policy was on handling
16 endowment funds, and a policy does exist that
17 allows the interest to be used on the operating
18 budget from endowments except for on
19 site-specific funds where those can only be
20 used for the designated -- for the
21 designation. We also have the option of
22 rolling interest back into the endowment if we
23 decide not to use it, and I just wanted to note
24 that we are not budgeting endowment earnings in
25 this -- interest earnings in the 2001 budget.
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78230
(210) 377-3027 1-800-969-3027 (210) 344-6016
. 11
1 And that was all I had on the operating
2 budget. I just wanted to follow up quickly
3 with you on the legislative appropriations
4 process, the request. We submitted the
5 document on August the 18th for the 2002-2003
6 biennium. And just as a reminder, the request
7 was limited to level spending. We weren't
8 allowed to ask for more than we currently have,
9 unless it was put in an exceptional item
10 request.
11 We did identify two exceptional items that
12 we wanted to ask for, ask the Legislature to
13 consider it at legislative session. Those two
14 categories are operating and -- and capital
15 enhancements for state parks, and also for
16 additional authority to spend funds for license
17 buyback programs.
18 The first item for state parks is broken
19 out between operating expense needs and capital
20 repair needs. The first $5 million for
21 operating expense is the difference between the
22 State Auditor's audit recommendations and what
23 we actually received last session in additional
24 operating funds. So that difference is
25 approximately $5 million, which includes 81 1/2
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78230
(210) 377-3027 1-800-969-3027 (210) 344-6016
. 12
1 FTE's. And these are per year numbers.
2 We're also asking for $8 million in
3 facility repair needs per year to address the
4 scheduled repair needs in parks. This slide
5 slows the types of repairs we're working on.
6 The top triangle is the backlog recovery that
7 we're using bond money for, to -- to address
8 the backlog that had built up over time. And
9 the -- The red line is the scheduled repairs
10 that we need to do in order to keep that
11 triangle from going back up in the other
12 direction so that we won't continue to have a
13 backlog.
14 We think that estimate is -- is very
15 conservative, the $8 million, so we're going
16 to -- We expect that to eventually climb to
17 more like $13 to $15 million, but at this time,
18 because we have other bond money we're still
19 trying to use to clean up the backlog, we'll
20 only be asking for $8 million in the next
21 biennium for each year.
22 The other item that we identified is due
23 to increased fees from both salt water stamp
24 fees and from the proposed increase in the
25 shrimp license fees. With the new revenue
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78230
(210) 377-3027 1-800-969-3027 (210) 344-6016
. 13
1 that's -- that we expect to come in from those
2 sources, we won't have the appropriation
3 authority to spend them under current levels,
4 so we're just going to ask here not for more
5 funds, but just for the authority to spend the
6 funds that we anticipate earning.
7 Lastly, we've asked for some changes to
8 our appropriation riders. The entrepreneurial
9 rider is what we used to -- It was the old
10 Rider Number 17. We've asked to have that
11 back. That's the most significant change that
12 we're asking for in our -- in our appropriation
13 riders. That allows us to spend the additional
14 revenue that we earn. It encourages
15 revenue-generating activity, so we're going to
16 ask for that back.
17 The others, the state housing is just --
18 allows for more -- The Department had more
19 flexibility in designating who the state
20 housing is for. Currently the rider says it's
21 for the manager and assistant manager at each
22 state park. Land sale proceeds, we're asking
23 here if we sell any land that's owned by the
24 Department that we would have the authority to
25 spend those funds on additional purchases of
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78230
(210) 377-3027 1-800-969-3027 (210) 344-6016
. 14
1 similar -- similar-type purchases.
2 Capital budget I listed here because I
3 just wanted you to know that we've asked to
4 have -- We've asked for vehicles back at the
5 level before we had our vehicle reduction that
6 the Legislature put in place at the last
7 session, so we're asking for the old level of
8 vehicle purchases that we used to have.
9 I have copies of the appropriations
10 request for you if you'd like copies. I also
11 have a handout of the administrator's statement
12 and attached to that is the -- a summary of the
13 request which may be easier to read than the
14 entire document, which I know it's over
15 100 pages. If you'd like copies of those I can
16 get those to you before you leave.
17 And that's all I had today, and tomorrow I
18 will go into more detail on the financial
19 condition of the agency.
20 And I'm happy to take any questions. And
21 that was quick.
22 CHAIR HEATH: Well, it was quick, but
23 I think it was also a summary of our last
24 meeting in -- in Dallas and we'll expect a more
25 complete update for the public tomorrow. Any
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78230
(210) 377-3027 1-800-969-3027 (210) 344-6016
. 15
1 questions of Suzy from the Commission?
2 If not, the Chair would entertain a motion
3 to approve this item for consideration in
4 tomorrow's commission meeting.
5 COMMISSIONER WATSON: So moved.
6 CHAIR HEATH: Do I have second? All
7 in favor?
8 COMMISSION MEMBERS: Aye.
9 (No response, and motion carries
10 unanimously.)
11 CHAIR HEATH: Thank you.
12 If you-all would look to your Finance
13 Committee agenda, Item Number 3 are local park
14 grants, primarily other -- other grants. Item
15 Number 4 is an item regarding facility
16 transfers, and Item Number 5 is an item that is
17 potentially, I believe, an item for the consent
18 agenda.
19 It would be the Chair's suggestion that in
20 the light of the time that we postpone Items 3
21 and 4 for tomorrow's agenda and that we discuss
22 these in the context of the full Commission
23 tomorrow.
24 Andy, the Item Number 5 could also be
25 certainly delayed until tomorrow. I think it's
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78230
(210) 377-3027 1-800-969-3027 (210) 344-6016
. 16
1 an item that is certainly a candidate for the
2 consent agenda.
3 Mr. Chairman, whether that would be more
4 expedient for tomorrow or today and just do it
5 as a regular item tomorrow or --
6 MR. SANSOM: That's what I'd do. If
7 you --
8 CHAIR HEATH: Okay.
9 MR. SANSOM: -- pass it along, I
10 would not put on the consent.
11 CHAIR HEATH: Okay. And I agree with
12 that then.
13 I think Item Number 5 I would then put in
14 the same category as Items 3 and 4. If the
15 Commission agrees, the Committee agrees, we
16 will move all of these items to tomorrow and we
17 would not make Item 5 a consent agenda item.
18 Any discussion on that? If not, then I'd
19 ask for a motion to move those three items to
20 tomorrow's agenda to the full Commission.
21 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: So moved.
22 COMMISSIONER DINKINS: Second.
23 COMMISSIONER HEATH: All in favor?
24 COMMISSION MEMBERS: Aye.
25 CHAIR HEATH: Opposed?
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78230
(210) 377-3027 1-800-969-3027 (210) 344-6016
. 17
1 (No response and motion carries
2 unanimously.)
3 CHAIR HEATH: Carries. And with
4 that, we'll close this meeting and go into
5 executive session.
6 Mr. Chairman.
7 CHAIRMAN BASS: I believe we will --
8 Ms. Dinkins, would you care to open the
9 Conservation Committee meeting, at which point
10 we can then appropriately go into executive
11 session.
12 CHAIR DINKINS: Thank you,
13 Mr. Chairman. Call the Committee to order and
14 we will dispense with considering the minutes
15 of the last meeting since you haven't had a
16 chance to read them. And I don't believe we
17 need to cover the Chairman's charges.
18 So with that, if the Chairman would -- Do
19 you have a statement of the Executive --
20 CHAIRMAN BASS: I do. I'd like to
21 announce that pursuant to requirement
22 Section 511, Government Code, referred to as
23 the Open Meetings Law, Executive Session will
24 be held at this time for the purpose of
25 consideration of land transactions and
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78230
(210) 377-3027 1-800-969-3027 (210) 344-6016
. 18
1 contemplated litigation.
2 At this point, we will adjourn and
3 reconvene here shortly.
4 (Whereupon an Executive Session was
5 held.)
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78230
(210) 377-3027 1-800-969-3027 (210) 344-6016
. 19
1 THE STATE OF TEXAS )
COUNTY OF BEXAR )
2
3 I, TONYA R. THOMPSON, a Certified
4 Court Reporter in and for the State of Texas,
5 do hereby certify that the above and foregoing
6 20 pages constitute a full, true, and correct
7 transcript of the minutes of the Texas Parks
8 and Wildlife Commission on AUGUST 30, 2000, in
9 the Commission Hearing Room of the Texas Parks
10 and Wildlife Headquarters Complex, Austin,
11 Travis County, Texas.
12 I FURTHER CERTIFY that a stenographic
13 record was made by me at the time of the public
14 meeting and said stenographic notes were
15 thereafter reduced to computerized
16 transcription under my supervision and control.
17 WITNESS MY HAND this the day of
18 , 2000.
19
20
21 TONYA R. THOMPSON, Texas CSR 5476
Expiration Date: 12/2000
22 7800 IH-10 West, Suite 100
San Antonio, Texas 78230
23 (210) 377-3027
24 EBS NO.:
25
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78230
(210) 377-3027 1-800-969-3027 (210) 344-6016
. 20
1
2
DICK W. HEATH, CHAIR
3
4 LEE M. BASS
5
CAROL E. DINKINS
6
7 NOLAN RYAN
8
ERNEST ANGELO, JR.
9
10 JOHN AVILA, JR.
11
ALVIN L. HENRY
12
13 KATHARINE ARMSTRONG IDSAL
14
MARK E. WATSON, JR.
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78230
(210) 377-3027 1-800-969-3027 (210) 344-6016