News

Revised Wisconsin animal fee plan leaves big funding gap

Wisconsin’s administration backed away from large fee increases for animal health programs and services, but that means something else must be done to fund them.

It’s been eighteen years since the fees were adjusted in June of 2007.  The Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection says increasing fees to the rate of inflation over that time will leave a large gap in funding.

DATCP’s Dan Richter tells Brownfield, “The revised fees as proposed, with an inflationary adjustment, would amount to an estimated $227,101. This would equate to an inflationary adjustment of about 55-60% per fee covered by the administrative rule.”  Richter says if the new inflation adjusted fees are approved, there would be a one-time General Purpose Revenue gap of approximately $1.1 million dollars, and an annual GPR gap of more than $680,000.

The first fee proposal would have raised prices as much as 17-hundred percent, and more than 500 comments were received from farmers, truckers, livestock dealers, and sales barns… all in opposition to the proposed fees.

The fees are part of administrative rules ATCP 10 and ATCP 12, and because of a recent State Supreme Court ruling, are not reviewable by the Legislature.