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Richland County committee approves $21,200 pass-through wildlife damage budget
Summary
The committee approved a state-funded pass-through budget to fund the county's wildlife damage program, allocating $21,200 for administration, salaries, abatement and venison donation processing.
The Richland County committee approved a $21,200 pass-through budget for the county's wildlife damage program, the panel decided during its November meeting.
The committee approved the package after hearing an overview from Greg Servin, the contractor who conducts wildlife-damage assessments for the county. Servin described the program and the claims process: "Deer damage program is something that is, in out account to the county," he said. He explained that the county contracts with him, that farmers contact him when crops are damaged, and that payments for verified losses come from the state through the county.
The budget the committee approved lists $1,200 for county administration, $1,500 for administrative overhead, $12,000 for salaries, $2,000 for mileage, $2,500 for abatement and $2,000 for venison donation processing, for a total of $21,200. The committee was told this money is provided by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and is not drawn from the county levy. As one committee member summarized, "the state gives us the exact amount we need that we're gonna pay him. So we get it from the state, and then we pay him."
Servin described program rules that govern shooting permits and eligibility for compensation: farmers who document at least $1,000 in crop damage and notify the program within 14 days of first damage can be eligible for shooting permits and for compensation after appraisal. He said, "If they want compensation for their damage, they have to be notifying me within 14 days of first damage so that we can try whatever abatement possible to stop their damage during the growing season." The committee heard that claim approval can depend on whether landowners met program conditions, including opening land to public hunting when accepting a claim and a requirement that participants take 80% of the deer by Sept. 15 in the local implementation.
Members asked how non-deer species are handled and how commodity prices for appraisals are set. Servin said the program covers several species when legally controlled and that he bases crop pricing on local markets. The committee also discussed a venison-donation line item: hunters may donate deer and the program can pay processing costs to supply venison to local food pantries; the line item remains in the budget even though the processor has not consistently provided the service in recent years.
The committee voted to approve the budget by voice vote. No dollar amount changes were recorded in the meeting notes.
The county will receive the funds from the DNR and pay claims and program expenses through this account; Servin and county staff said they will return to the committee next month to set the commodity prices used in crop appraisals.
