Jan. 24-25, 2001 Commission Meeting Agenda
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Finance Committee

Wednesday, 9:00 a.m., Jan. 24, 2001

Commission Hearing Room
4200 Smith School Road
Austin, TX 78744
Item
No.		 Subject Public Hearing
Agenda Item No.
  Approval of the Committee Minutes from the previous meeting.  
  Summary of Minutes  
1. Chairman's Charges (Oral Presentation) Committee Only
2. Financial Review
Staff: Suzy Whittenton 		Committee Only
3. Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) Program
Staff: Debra Pendley 		7
4. Grants
- Local Park Funding
- Indoor Recreation Grants
Staff: Tim Hogsett 		2
3
5. Audit Status Report
Staff: Dennis O'Neal 		Committee Only
6. Memorandum of Understanding – Texas Department of Transportation, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas Department of Economic Development, Texas Commission on the Arts and Texas Historical Commission
Staff: Lydia Saldaña 		10
7. Amendment to Artwork Approval
Staff: Frances Stiles 		12
8. Other Business  

Summary of Minutes
Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission

Finance Committee

November 8, 2000

BE IT REMEMBERED that heretofore on the 8th day of November 2000, there came to be heard matters under the regulatory authority of the Parks and Wildlife Commission of Texas, in the commission hearing room of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Headquarters complex, Austin, Travis County, Texas beginning at 10:00 a.m., to-wit:

FINANCE COMMITTEE:

Ernest Angelo, Jr., Chair
Lee M. Bass
Dick Heath (absent)
John Avila, Jr. (absent)
Carol E. Dinkins
Alvin L. Henry
Katharine Armstrong Idsal
Nolan Ryan (absent)
Mark E. Watson, Jr. (absent)

OPENING STATEMENT: Commissioner Ernest Angelo, Jr. called the meeting to order.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Commissioner Ernest Angelo, Jr. asked for a motion to approve the minutes from the August 25, 1999 meeting. The motion was moved by Commissioner Alvin L. Henry and seconded by Vice-Chair Carol E. Dinkins. The motion passed unanimously.

THE FOLLOWING ITEMS WERE PRESENTED TO THE COMMITTEE:

1. BRIEFING - Chairman’s Charges

Presenter: Mr. Andrew Sansom

A contract was signed with MCI to convert our license point-of-sale system, and the system design is underway.

Also, the Big Time Texas Hunts program has currently received 82,147 applications. Revenue is currently up over $800,000.

2. BRIEFING – Financial Overview

Presenter: Ms. Suzy Whittenton

Account 9 Game, Fish and Water Safety. Boat registration and titling fees are down for the period of September through October. License revenue is up $1.9 million, about 5%. Supercombo sales have increased 18%, however combo sales have declined. We increased the marketing efforts of the supercombo and by the end of October we have sold more than we did in FY 2000. Our renewal rate for supercombo is very high and our conversion rate of combo to supercombo has also increased. Resident hunting license sales are up almost 5%, but nonresident sales are down 3.6%, with an overall decline in hunting sales of 1%. This could partially be due to people upgrading to the Super Combo. Fishing license sales are down10% across the board at this time. Saltwater stamp sales are down 10%, but the revenue is up 28% due to the fee increase. The Texas Outdoor Connection sales show that we have collected about 60% of the original estimate. Current projections indicate that we may have more revenue than projected, but do not want to recommend an adjustment at this time.

Account 64, State Parks, comparing revenue for the period of September and October is down approximately 27%, which is $1.2 million. We will continue to monitor park revenue and do not recommend a revenue adjustment at this time.

We are currently closing out FY 2000 and it appears we will lapse approximately $4 million in regular operating budget, which is about 2 1/2 % of the original budget. This does not include fringe benefits, federal funds, or stamp funds.

We submitted our Legislative Appropriations Request (LAR) which was limited to the base level funding. We asked for additional funding for operations and maintenance which includes $8 million per year in scheduled facility repairs to maintain the statewide infrastructure. We also asked for an additional $5 million per year to establish or restore services in existing parks. That includes 81 ½ employees, 9 of which are for the regional park interpretive program. We also asked for the authority to spend $2 million per year of the money we are getting from the saltwater stamp increase for commercial buyback and license buyback. This is not new money, we are just asking for the authority to spend it. The other $13 million we are asking for is new money. We have had our first hearing regarding this and recommendations should be available in December and our budget hearings at the Capitol should begin shortly after the session begins in January.

3. ACTION – Artwork Approval

Presenter: Ms. Frances Stiles
Ms. Stiles presented the current year’s artwork for the waterfowl, non-game, turkey and saltwater stamps.

Mr. Bubba Wood of Collector’s Covey provided background information regarding the artists and wildlife for this year’s stamps as well as information on the sales breakdown by category from previous years. In the last 20 years TPW has received more than $6 million in sale proceeds from the stamp collection.

A motion for approval and consideration on the consent agenda was made by Commissioner Alvin L. Henry and seconded by Vice-Chair Carol E. Dinkins. The motion passed unanimously.

4. BRIEFING – Point of Sale Update

Presenter: Ms. Jayna Burgdorf
Ms. Burgdorf explained that our current contract with Transactive expires August 31, 2001. We signed a contract with MCI WorldCom. We have completed the basic design sessions and are in the process of finalizing our user requirements. The new system will reduce the wait time due to not only being able to use your drivers license, but you will also be able to use the bar codes from the previous year’s license in order to pull up the name, address, hunter education number, etc. for the new license. The system will also receive updates from DPS and National Change of Address file, therefore it will update address changes for license holders. Worldcom’s contract will be slightly higher than Transactives, but they will only receive half the transaction fee for off-line sales, therefore it is incentive for them to keep the system on line and this will reduce the amount of time it takes to issue a license. We are also introducing a new license format where the tags are around the body of the license. We have a choice of a 12-tag or 14-tag format. If we go with a 14-tag format it leaves us room for growth or marketing and there is not a cost difference between the two. We will require a performance guarantee of $250 - $500 depending on the equipment setup for new vendors, but will grandfather al current license deputies.

5. ACTION – Other Business

Presenter: Andrew Sansom
We have several audits under way in the Department at this time. The State Auditor’s Office (SAO) is finishing up an audit of the commercial fishing industry in Texas. The principle objective is the cost that Oyster Moon and other commercial fishers pay for their practice. The study is principally of the industry and the draft report should be available soon.

The SAO has also begun an audit of the Chief Financial Officer’s area. The principal objective is to examine our revenue estimating and financial processes to identify any non-value added services and potential cost savings. The audit should be complete in January.

There is also a federal compliance audit underway. The purpose of this audit is to make sure that we are in compliance with federal rules and regulations. The audit should be complete in January.

Finally, the Comptroller’s office is finalizing our sales tax collections audit. We sell items in state parks and collect sales tax on them and it looks like we owe about $35,000 or so in state sales taxes.

V. ADJOURNMENT

Commissioner Ernest Angelo, Jr. adjourned the finance committee.

Committee Agenda Item No. 1
Presenter: Andrew Sansom

Finance Committee
Briefing
Chairman's Charges
January 2001

(This item will be an oral presentation.)

Committee Agenda Item No. 2
Presenter: Suzy Whittenton

Finance Committee
Briefing
Financial Review
January 2001

I. Discussion: Staff will present a financial review for the year to date FY2001, including an update on Account 9, Game, Fish and Water Safety and Account 64, State Parks. This presentation will focus on the sale of hunting and fishing licenses, boat registration and titling fees, and state park fees. Updated budget and expenditure information will also be presented.

Committee Agenda Item No. 3
Presenter: Debra Pendley

Finance Committee
Action
Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) Program
January 2001

(This is Public Hearing Agenda Item No. 7.)

Committee Agenda Item No. 4
Presenter: Tim Hogsett

Finance Committee
Action
Local Park Funding and Indoor Recreation Grants
January 2001

LOCAL PARK FUNDING: (This is Public Hearing Agenda Item No. 2.)

INDOOR RECREATION GRANTS: (This is Public Hearing Agenda Item No. 3.)

Committee Agenda Item No. 5
Presenter: Dennis O'Neal

Finance Committee
Action
Audit Status Report
January 2001

I. DISCUSSION: Staff will brief the Commission on the status of audits affecting the Department:

Committee Agenda Item No. 6
Presenter: Lydia Saldaña

Finance Committee
Action
Memorandum of Understanding Between
Texas Department of Transportation
Texas Economic Development Department
Texas Parks and Wildlife
Texas Commission on the Arts
Texas Historical Commission
January 2001

(This is Public Hearing Agenda Item No. 10.)

Committee Agenda Item No. 7
Presenter: Frances Stiles

Finance Committee
Action
Amendment to Artwork Approval
January 2001

(This is Public Hearing Agenda Item No. 12.)


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