Smoke fund faces growing deficit as registered acres outpace accomplished burns

Stacy McCarter walked the committee through the smoke fund’s fiscal graphs and projections, noting a year‑to‑date revenue of about $99,467 versus personnel and service costs around $348,000, leaving a current fund balance near −$83,701. She said projected receivables and invoices might reduce that shortfall slightly but cautioned that "if nothing changes, I estimate the ending balance in '25 to be around 261,000 in the red," and projected an even larger deficit in 2026.

Members focused on the discrepancy between acres registered and acres accomplished. James Dickinson and others pointed out the program had many acres registered that are not being accomplished in the same year — a "shelf stock" of available acres — which inflates expected revenue and undermines realistic budgeting. Dickinson noted that if registration and accomplishment were synced more closely, it could affect both operational outcomes and revenue projections.

Committee discussion ranged across options: adjusting fee structure, automating registration/accomplishment reporting, negotiating more realistic agreements with partner agencies (DEQ, ODA), and exploring whether portions of administrative costs could shift to the general fund under pending legislation (HB 3940). Michael Curran described HB 3940’s intent to shift some centralized administrative costs to general fund support and said the final legislative outcome will determine how many positions remain charged to the smoke budget.

The committee asked Stacy to prepare a breakdown of revenue by registration versus accomplishment and by burn type, and to analyze which landowner classes (federal, industrial, private) drive the registration/accomplishment delta so SMAC can develop targeted implementation options.