JAC Agency Hearings JAC Index 01-08-18 AM Monday January 8, 2018 Agency: AM 037 – State Engineer 031 – Collection Agency Board 021 – Department of Audit 051 – Livestock Board 1/8/2018 8:06:15 AM Chairman of the Day is Chairman Nicholas Roll Call by Don Richards; quorum is established 037 Patrick Tyrell, State Engineer, Rick Duell, Deputy Director, Cricket Hoskins, Chief Financial Officer, overview of handout Sommers: employment numbers comparison, back to what level? Tyrel: approximately 20 years ago Burns: water commissioners’ number, efficiency or budget cuts Tyrell: numbers are down about 8 positions, due to budget cuts, use seasonal workers; stretch folks in the field presently, Sheridan area have not lost positions Nicholas: GF vs water funds - when did that happen Tyrell: early to mid-1990’s, funding of water commissioners discussion, continued handout overview, unit 101, unit 201, unit 301, pg. 11, safety of dams staff, FEMA grant Nicholas: Buffalo Bill Dam dollars raided for various things, logic vs using safety of dams’ budget? Tyrell: Use of money in dam safety for various things, will check, unit 401, pg. 11, $13.4M, half of agency funds, no exception item, unit 501, 700, 1400 and 601 - pg. 12 summary Nicholas: North Platte question Tyrell: not contributing to current budget, unit 601 funded outside of GF Burns: engineers licensing reciprocity Tyrell; “Comity” is used among states, unit 1150, pg. 13, stream gage in Laramie River, unit 1501, pg. 13 not GF/fees, $50/ fee to belong to board 1/8/2018 8:35:39 AM Schwartz: how many well drilling contractors are there, $230K, Tyrell: 300 plus belong to the board, bulk of revenue comes from permitting Wilson: pg. 10, performance measures, number 3 and 6, 1 year and 3 years, water right adjudication only at quarterly meetings? Tyrell: board of control petitions processing for water rights, can get stalled for various reasons – time Nicholas: fast track process in place? Tyrell: can do petition in less time based on all correct info coming in, adjudications only done at quarterly meetings, some take 2 or 3 years Nicholas: Fees charged Tyrell: under $100, appropriator bears most of the expense Larsen: services only from statutorily required, which ones outside statutes were done Tyrell: used to do water rights in house, cut travel to meetings, no water commissioners school, and focus on permits, water regulations, and compact meetings Sommer: ranchers understanding water rights, etc., fee per foot for well Tyrell: 2 -300 foot well = $12,000, fee is $50/well, don’t recommend water taxes, raising permitting fees estimate, fees go to general fund, fee raising and limits need to be reviewed Driskill: Coalbed Methane (CBM) wells status Tyrell: converting about 400 wells, 400 reservoir conversion, number of wells within state 1 -2,000 stock and domestic wells, economy dependent, drilling without a permit procedure, contractors can’t drill without a permit, seek compliance requested, can be locked and tagged, usually older wells, hot water wells are permitted in Thermopolis, old wells are capped, structural integrity at risk, flow diminished over years but seemed to pick up last year, CBM well discussion continued, beneficial use wells requirement in statute, definitions and concurrence discussed, review process of state engineers process/ definitions, has been addressed in court cases, maintaining in stream flow requirement, upstream flow protections/rights 1/8/2018 9:07:05 AM Sommers: Hoback questions, forest service lands, water rights, risks, water turbine, impacts Tyrell: pg. 19, unit 101, Admin, 900 series biggest dollars for USGS for coop program, pg. 20, moving deputy’s position, pg. 24, ground water, pg. 28, 320 reduction, chosen because of open position, been vacant 7 months, money returned to GF, fee raising to equal 320 cut, adjudication some more involved than others – may consider raising these fees, no RIFS to date, alternatives to eliminating position, pg. 40, board of control funded out of Water 1, vehicle charges high, 63 staff, travel in-state expense, vehicle efficiencies put into place, vacancy sheet questions, vehicles and travel discussion, miles/year, summary of what is done to expend these miles, 29K miles/year to 5K miles/year, area for reservoirs, gage checking, daily routines vary, stream flow changes, back to vacancy list, pg. 45, GIS positions, scanning folks, remote monitoring 1/8/2018 9:39:52 AM Burkhart: request for computer upgrades/new Tyrell: current computers – no need for urgent upgrade today, pg. 47 and 49, no exception items, self-funded board, pg. 54, interstate stream division, list of meeting required to attend asked for, licensing/membership dues question, no software or maintenance agreements in line item 0207, pg. 57, endangered fish program, funded by water 1, flow through money, list to be provided of all users, salinity program, funding and management of river basins/water rights discussion, 1M acre feet flow into the Flaming Gorge, WY receives no $’s, dry agriculture lands not used, no direct lease to the lower basin, COMPACT position, Lake Mead/Lake Powell questions, water accountability, trans-basin question, pg. 58, special projects, pg. 61 North Platte Settlement, permanent compliance, WY’s responsibility to provide all the personnel, upstream state, report on folks who benefit from water, and why not in Water 1,2 or 3 for funding, pg. 66, well drillers license board, self-funded, concluded. 1/8/2018 10:24:49 AM Break 1/8/2018 10:32:07 AM 031 – Collection Agency Board, Jeff Vogel, Audit Director, Dennis Grenier, CFO, agency overview, pg. 3 board outline/services, licenses cost $500, 500 agencies meet criteria for licensure, $40K exception request, fees go to enterprise fund, requesting spending authority for the $40K, out of state agencies licensed in the state discussion, complaints against agency explanation, no 320 reductions, concluded. 1/8/2018 10:41:32 AM 021 – Department of Audit, Jeff Vogel, Audit Director, Dennis Grenier, CFO, introduced staff, pg. 8 exception request priorities explanation, contract bid every 4 years, set contract why short, escalator of 5%/year was not in budget when negotiated Grenier: each year re-negotiated, inflation every year Vogel: number of hours projected from contractor differs from year to year, multiple agencies bid on contract every four years, pg. 8, breakdown of exception fund priorities; explanation of return on audit efforts vs. efficiency study numbers done recently, reviewed staff numbers historically, basic return is $1 in auditing with a $5 return, efficiencies discussed, proposal requested for markup next week, pg. 10 admin division, pg. 17 division of banking, pg. 23, priority 3 exception request, try to extend the life of computers but federal interface lends itself to upgrades as needed Forkener: Trust companies discussion, family chartered trust companies, ENDOW trust business attraction, tax structure in WY, trust company resolution fund Vogel: pg. 23, pg. 30 public funds division, pg. 35, Mineral Audit Division, pg. 39, excise tax unit, performance measures scale explained Nicholas: total cuts to DOA Vogel: $1.8M, 8 positions lost 1/8/2018 11:28:08 AM Break 1/8/2018 11:39:10 AM 051 – Livestock Board; Steve True Director, Anne Enright, Accounting analyst, pg. 9 exception requests, pg. 12 unit 101, no exception requests, priority 4, pg. 16, unit 0103, information technology, pg. 20, unit 0201, 100% GF, no exception requests, 320 reductions, state vet and asst. state vet in admin section, field vet is in unit 0201, pg. 23. Unit 0205, Law enforcement, exception request priority 1, stolen and missing livestock cases discussed, $80K appropriation for 3 LE’s until August of 2017 payout, the LE officer is in Kaycee, using local LE to assist – depends on case, additional investigator – have to run numbers paid for through brand inspection section, not sure about money being used for other purpose, pg. 27 unit 0301, lab tech, budget has been cut already, pg. 29 unit 0302, Brucellosis travel, pg. 32, unit 0303, Brucellosis testing Enright: exception request explanation, Riverton office, no GF $’s, fed grant $’s used True: break in fed grant Enright: apply each year Sommers: use this grant for field vet vs AWEC employee (clerical) True: critical position, pg. 33, 320 reductions, pg. 37 unit 0601, estrays, money from this section cannot be used anywhere else, no GF $’s, pg. 45, brand inspection unit, priority 2 exception request Larsen: raising livestock inspection fees, had authority, projection for next year True: did a 10% fee raise, offset cuts, temporary raise, gathered board members to consider change in fee structure, rule making timeframe, require a fee increase of 35% to offset, refer to handout 051-148, board recommendation is 25% increase, 8% cut in brand program $675K, gov’s rec led us to general brand program 1/8/2018 12:27:59 PM Larsen: cuts discussion/understanding continued True: timing of revenue/cuts/ offsets explanation Larsen: general revenue spending justification questions True: offsets needed to maintain service to producers, total fee increase 10%, pg. 43, and special revenue history of brand inspection, other state brand inspectors in region comparison has been done, variances across each state, brand renewal period is 10 years, concluded. 1/8/2018 12:39:14 PM