PA proposes license price increase
Officials at the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission are proposing a fee increase for annual fishing licenses from $21 to $27.50.
This would be the largest percent increase in this fee in commission history. In the past, increases in license fees have typically caused an 8% decrease in license purchases that typically recovers within a year or two.
According to John Arway:
“These fee increases are inevitable,” he said. “The conundrum this cycle is that we need to keep up with inflation, and we got hit with increased pension costs.
“We’ve been trying to get alternative revenues to delay increasing fees, but it’s not to the place where we can see some relief,” Arway said.
The commission has reduced staff from 432 to 376 employees, Arway said. But even with a leaner workforce, the commission must either raise revenue or cut services.
Arway said he hopes raising fees now will result in increased services to anglers.
“You should expect to see better service from us,” he said.
The trend nationally has been for higher fees and for specific fees tor different species of fish and bodies of water.
The net result almost makes it feel like the cell phone industry. The base license is only the beginning. These agencies then can jack the fees up 50 to 100 percent or more with fees like a trout stamp, a Lake Erie stamp.
This isn’t just a Pennsylvania thing either as I’ve seen this in licensing in Massachusetts , Ohio>
Do you have “special purpose” fees in your state?
