Report No. 2009-113
October 2009
Complete Audit Report
Findings in the audit of the Department of Conservation
Permit Restructuring and Pricing
In September 2008, the Conservation Commission approved tentative regulatory changes to increase the cost of most permits, eliminate lessee hunting and fishing privileges, and increase the minimum acreage for landowners to obtain no cost deer and turkey hunting permits. The MDC held a series of public hearings, as required by the rulemaking process, and received many negative comments from the public and the media. In December 2008, the MDC suspended most proposed changes but did approve permit price increases for nonresidents and eliminated reduced price deer and turkey permits for nonresident landowners.
We noted various concerns regarding the permit restructuring and pricing review. The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) did not comply with existing policy, the "permit price trigger rule" established in 1998, to determine when price adjustments to permits should be considered. The percent of revenue generated by permits did not drop for 2 consecutive years below the 20 percent long-term average, and permit price adjustments should not have been considered. The MDC proceeded with the permit restructuring and pricing project instead of identifying specific plans, programs, or activities that could be curtailed or eliminated. Also, the MDC did not consider both the positive and negative impact on federal aid when performing the permit restructuring and pricing study. In addition, the proposed action to increase permit prices and the minimum acreage to qualify for no cost deer and turkey permits would have conflicted with the MDC's goals of promoting citizen participation in hunting and fishing, reducing the reproductive potential of the deer herd, and increasing hunter and landowner satisfaction.
Voluntary Payroll Reduction Program
The MDC did not consider normal attrition when estimating the potential cost savings for the retirement incentive program. In addition, previous incentives at the MDC did not result in permanent elimination of salaried positions. The MDC based the voluntary payroll reduction program (VPRP) upon the assumption that 102 salaried positions would need to be permanently eliminated in order for the MDC to achieve the desired balance for personal service expenditures. The MDC estimated the VPRP would result in total savings of nearly $41 million in fiscal years 2011 through 2018. However, those savings will only be attained if the 102 positions are permanently eliminated.
Professional Services Agreements
The MDC did not always require written agreements for outside legal counsel services. Between July 1, 2007, and February 28, 2009, the MDC paid nearly $528,000 to three legal firms; however, the MDC did not have written agreements specifying the services to be provided, billing rates, allowable miscellaneous charges, or documentation required to support billed charges.
Conservation Area Planning
The MDC has not made significant progress toward ensuring management plans for conservation areas have been developed and updated. In our prior audit report, issued in August 2007, we noted policies and procedures for development and maintenance of area management plans were not followed, no management plans had been developed for some areas, and some areas had under gone extensive expansion or development without the area management plan being updated. As of June 2009, the MDC had determined management plans existed for only about 250 of 461 named conservation areas. Of the 250 areas with plans, 120 had not been updated according the originally planned schedule or term, or were not updated within 15 years.
Closed Session Minutes
The MDC refused to provide auditors complete copies of closed session minutes, but did provide redacted versions of the closed session minutes that indicated approval of real estate transactions, contract negotiations, award or rejection of bids and other actions that were apparently allowable actions for closed meetings. We also requested and were provided additional documentation related to some of the redacted items. However, we were unable to determine if some actions taken in closed session were reported in open session or made publicly available as required by the Sunshine Law.
Complete Audit Report
Missouri State Auditor's Office
moaudit@auditor.mo.gov