Finance Committee

Wednesday, 9:00am, April 5, 2006

Committee Agenda Item No. 1
Presenter: Robert L. Cook

Finance Committee
Land and Water Plan Update
April 2006

I. Executive Summary: Executive Director Robert L. Cook will briefly update the Commission on the status of the agency’s efforts to implement the Land and Water Resources Conservation and Recreation Plan (the Plan).

II. Discussion: In 2001, the 77^th Texas Legislature directed that the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) develop a Land and Water Resources Conservation and Recreation Plan (Tex. Park & Wild. Code §11.104). In November 2002, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission (the Commission) adopted the first Plan. A revised Plan was adopted by the Commission in January 2005. The Plan is available on the TPWD web site. Executive Director Robert L. Cook will update the Finance Committee on TPWD’s recent progress in achieving the Plan’s Goals and Objectives as they relate to the Finance Committee.

The Plan consists of 8 Goals and a total of 56 Objectives. The Goals stated in the Plan are as follows:

• Goal 1: Improve access to the outdoors.
• Goal 2: Preserve, conserve, manage, operate, and promote agency sites for recreational opportunities, biodiversity, and the cultural heritage of Texas.
• Goal 3: Assist landowners in managing their lands for sustainable wildlife habitat consistent with their goals.
• Goal 4: Increase participation in hunting, fishing, boating and outdoor recreation.
• Goal 5: Enhance the quality of hunting, fishing, boating and outdoor recreation.
• Goal 6: Improve science, data collection and information dissemination to make informed management decisions.
• Goal 7: Maintain or improve water quality and quantity to support the needs of fish, wildlife and recreation.
• Goal 8: Continuously improve TPWD business management systems, business practices and work culture.

Committee Agenda Item No. 2
Presenter: Mary Fields

Finance Committee
Financial Overview
April 2006

I. Executive Summary: Staff will present a financial overview of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD).

II. Discussion:

• Staff will update the Commission on revenue collected by TPWD for FY 2006, including state parks receipts, boat titling and registration revenue, and license sales revenue including the number of licenses sold.
• Staff will review the revenue collected by fund (Game Fish and Water Safety Fund, State Park Fund, Local Park Fund, and Other).
• Staff will compare the FY 2006 budget to FY 2006 expenditures and summarize recent budget adjustments.
• Staff will provide an overview of General Appropriations Act Rider 27 appropriation authority for FY 2006.
• Staff will discuss the need to exceed the transfer limitation on capital budget expenditures which requires Commission approval.
• Staff will review the development plan for the 2007-2011 Strategic Plan (Natural Agenda) and the FY 2008/09 Legislative Appropriations Request (LAR).

Committee Agenda Item No. 3
Presenter: Larry McKinney
Kim Dudish

Finance Committee
License Assessment Efforts
April 2006

I. Executive Summary: Staff will discuss the progress of the License Simplification Team and will also discuss the positive and negative aspects of continuing to contract with an outside vendor for license sales or set up an in-house License Sales System.

II. Discussion: Two teams are reviewing aspects of how we manage our license system. One team is looking at cost associated with the development and delivery of a custom built License Sales System for recreational and commercial licenses. A second team has reviewed the array of licenses with the objective of reducing the overall number and simplifying those for both the customer and systems development. Staff will also discuss the highlights of vendor responses to the Request for Information (RFI) for a new automated License Sales System.