Appropriations panel rejects Game and Fish temporary pay add, approves motor-pool and leave-payout funding

During a meeting of the Appropriations - Government Operations Division, legislators declined to approve a proposed $265,500 increase for temporary seasonal salaries at the North Dakota Game and Fish Department while approving added funding for motor-pool costs and special-fund accrued leave payouts.

The decision matters because the department relies on seasonal hires to staff summer fisheries, wildlife and enforcement work and leaders said the temporary positions are an important pipeline into full-time employment. Brian Hosek of Administrative Services for Game and Fish told the committee the request was intended to address workforce challenges by making seasonal pay more competitive.

Hosek said, “this was part of our base” and described the positions as three-month, seasonal jobs used in fisheries and enforcement. He said the proposed temporary-salary adjustment would be funded roughly 29 percent with federal funds and otherwise from special funds. Director Jeb Williams of the North Dakota Game and Fish Department said the seasonal program feeds the agency’s workforce: “170 people right now we have as far as our full time employees with our department, 90 of those individuals served as seasonal employees with our department.”

Melissa Long, a Game and Fish staff member who described the pay scale for seasonal hires, said the department’s hourly range runs “from the time they graduate from high school…about $13 an hour” up to about $18 an hour depending on college credits. Committee staff noted the department’s current base for temporary salaries is about $1.9 million. Committee members calculated that the newly proposed $265,500 would represent about a 14 percent increase to that line.

Committee members expressed two recurring concerns. Some members said the increase might be difficult to defend unless similar adjustments were offered consistently across agencies; Representative Bosch twice urged consistency and suggested removing the request “for now.” Others raised questions about whether higher seasonal pay would be funded by increased license fees. Representative Fisher and others noted part of the temporary-salary request is federal money, limiting reliance on state general fund dollars.

The panel took no action to add the requested temporary-salary increase. Chairman Munson summarized the committee’s view: the temporary-salary add was removed from consideration at this time.

At the same meeting the committee approved other single-year adjustments. The panel gave an OK to an approximately $4.0 million increase to cover motor-pool rate changes and authorized adding funding from special funds for accrued leave payouts for retirements. Committee materials showed a motor-pool add of roughly $4,000,000 with about half attributed to federal funds and an associated authorization figure of $687,331 for the department. Committee staff clarified that unused motor-pool authorizations would remain available if rates did not rise or if the department did not spend the full amount.

On accrued leave, department staff said the agency currently has 33 employees eligible for retirement payouts and that an add was included to cover the potential one-time cost; committee members noted that if the employees do not retire the funds would not be spent. The panel recorded an OK on that add.

Other topics reviewed included: a past reduction of approximately $1.65 million for shooting-range grants (the department said such construction grants often take significant planning and permitting time), a roughly $639,180 information-technology one-time request made up of multiple projects including a recently deployed Game and Fish mobile app, and operating/ capital adjustments primarily tied to fences, roads and extraordinary repairs.

Department finance staff summarized federal-revenue sources that support Game and Fish work, naming the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation as notable partners. The department said PRD (program) funds were a record $14.2 million in 2024 and projected in the $12 million–$13 million range in future years. Staff also said some habitat and pump projects are 75 percent federal-funded, some equipment 50 percent federal-funded, and other habitat/access items average in the 80–90 percent federal-funding range.

The committee heard that Game and Fish has about 70 seasonal employees in a typical year, and that the department views seasonal hiring as apprenticeship that frequently converts to full-time hires. The department also told the committee the statewide single audit cost is about $50,000 and operational audits range $15,000–$25,000 every two years; the federal audit cycle changed from five to six years for some federal audits.

On program administration, director Jeb Williams said the deer-depredation program is paid with “100% special funds” drawn from hunting and fishing license revenues and administered by the department. Committee members asked staff to provide division-average ages and other requested follow-up data; staff said they would provide those materials to representatives who requested them.

Committee leadership asked staff to assemble the committee’s red/green/black amendment sheet and meet again to finalize the fiscal worksheet for next consideration. Levi, department/committee staff, was asked to compile the amendment package for the next meeting.

Votes at a glance: the committee did not approve the temporary-salaries add (removed from consideration); it approved the motor-pool funding adjustment and approved adding special-fund authority for accrued leave payouts. No formal roll-call votes with member-by-member tallies were recorded in the transcript for these decisions.