Checking Our Fuel Gauge
Abstract
"
By Eric Olson, Director and Lakes Specialist, Extension Lakes
It usually only takes one experience of ignoring the fuel gauge for a boater to learn their lesson. The humbling experience of asking for a tow or seeking someone to share some fuel sticks with you, and from then on, you find yourself glancing at the instrument panel much more diligently. So it is with annual budgets; finding yourself getting close to an “empty tank” financially causes heightened awareness of how far you can get with what you have left.
For Lake Tides, the forces of inflation in the last several years have caused our financial fuel tank to run rather low lately. To better understand the issues, it helps to have a more complete view of how Extension Lakes and much of the Wisconsin Lakes and Rivers Partnership are funded, which is just one avenue Wisconsin uses to support water resources and conservation.
Lake Tides is a publication of Extension Lakes housed at UW-Stevens Point but primarily funded through an agreement with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The DNR is the lead state agency responsible for managing, protecting, and restoring the state’s streams, rivers, and lakes. This responsibility is part of what we often refer to as the Public Trust Doctrine, which protects the rights of the people of Wisconsin regarding:
Transportation and navigation on waterways.
Protection of water quality and aquatic habitat.
Recreational activities, including boating, fishing, hunting, and swimming in waterways.
Enjoyment of scenic beauty while on the water.
Within the DNR there are multiple different funding sources and budget allocations, incorporating everything from fishing and hunting license sales to state park revenue to fees charged for different permits. The DNR also receives a portion of the overall state sales and income tax (referred to as general purpose revenue or GPR). According to a study of Wisconsin’s conservation finances published last year by the non-partisan Wisconsin Policy Forum, GPR funding for the DNR has decreased nearly 70% over the last 25 years! This has resulted in an increased reliance on non-GPR dollars as well as a reduction in the size of the DNR workforce.
Funding Source
Lakes and rivers have long enjoyed a dedicated funding stream to help pay for staff as well as the annual surface water grant program (which provides over $6M in cost-sharing funds for lake and river protection and restoration). The Water Resources Account is funded by estimating the amount of state gasoline tax paid by in-state and out-of-state motor boaters. Since people do not operate boats on roads and highways, it makes sense to divert that tax revenue from the pumps before it is transferred to the Department of Transportation. A similar approach is used for ATVs and snowmobiles, with funding directed to trail development and maintenance.
Since there is no way to know exactly how much gas is sold for boating purposes, Wisconsin uses an estimate based on the number of boats that are registered in the state. An in-depth, statistically sound survey of boaters conducted in 1989-1990 found that the average boat in Wisconsin burns 50 gallons of gas a year, and that there are about 40% more boats than are registered in Wisconsin due to visiting boaters from other states. To estimate the gas tax attributable to boats, the state multiplies the number of registered boats x 50 gallons x 39.09 cents (the state gasoline tax rate), then adds 40% more to account for visiting boats.
For a long time, the number of boats registered in Wisconsin grew with the population, and the per-gallon gasoline tax used to increase based on the rate of inflation. Automatic increases in the gas tax rate stopped in 2006, and in recent years the number of boats registered in Wisconsin has held steady at just over 600,000. This has resulted in roughly $13 million annually to the water resources account.
Unbalanced Growth
The challenge today is that while the per-gallon gas tax rate has not been growing, the cost of just about everything else is. More specifically, the cost of printing and mailing this newsletter (which is funded by the Water Resources Account) has grown rather dramatically in recent years. This expense is in addition to the time and effort that staff and volunteer writers put into making this newsletter possible. Our physical mailing list includes nearly 25,000 addresses, which means we get low per-piece printing prices and we receive the U.S. Postal Service’s bulk mail discounts. Due to increases in paper costs and the postal rates, the total Lake Tides expense is on a trajectory to possibly double in a ten-year time period. In response, we have been working to reduce costs by “cleaning up” the mailing list, eliminating any possible duplicates and gently asking recipients, who are willing, to switch their mailed copy to an online version.
Information Age
Another consideration for the future of Lake Tides is, of course, technology. The way in which people receive and share information has changed dramatically over the last 50 years. The most rapid and innovative developments have been in the last decade or two with the widespread adoption of smart phones, the persistence of email, and the rise of social media. In the 1970s, when Extension Lakes and the DNR wanted to share timely updates with lake districts and other people working on lake issues, a quarterly newsletter was a good fit. Today, we use an email service to send monthly updates to lake district and lake association board members directly. (If you’re not receiving these monthly updates and you are on a lake group board, please contact us at lakes@uwsp.edu or 715-346-2116!) The DNR also maintains email directories through a service called GovDelivery (search for Wisconsin GovDelivery, enter your email, and sign up for the updates that interest you). While it takes staff time to administer our lists and compose messages, the sending of bulk emails is relatively free. There remains an issue of whether these emails are ever opened and read; generally only about a quarter of them are.
Our Readers Matter
We want to be mindful of you, the reader, when contemplating these changes. When we have surveyed our readers in the past, we found that the majority of people getting this newsletter prefer having it in hard copy. Like a magazine, the hard copy Lake Tides allows for more casual reading at the cabin, and it enables you to share your copy with others by either leaving it on the coffee table or passing it along to your new neighbor. Just this summer we received a letter from a long-time reader thanking us for continuing to provide hard-copy editions of Lake Tides, stating “Many thanks for printing ‘Lake Tides’ with paper and ink. I’m a senior citizen, born in 1931, I don’t have a computer…”
We also have asked if people would be willing to subscribe and pay for Lake Tides; the results were mixed, with most people indicating they would not do so. Moving to a subscription model would make sure the mailing list is continuously up-to-date, but it also creates a new set of tasks around managing the subscriptions and a possible increase in the per piece cost. Most importantly, we want to make sure everyone has access to this publication.
Taking Steps Now
In the meantime, we need to take some steps to mitigate these budget impacts and make sure no one has to metaphorically tow us to the shore. For 2025, we will only be printing and mailing Lake Tides three times rather than four. We will also be regularly asking readers to contact us to ensure they continue receiving the paper copy. We may eventually need to do a “purge” of the mailing list, requiring people to definitively affirm that they wish to keep receiving the hard copy in the mail. This step will likely occur over time to maximize the odds that a reader sees that we are doing this and has an opportunity to respond. This is not an unprecedented action, but the last time it was done was over 20 years ago.
We also want those people who are involved in lake organization leadership (board members, etc.) to take steps to make sure we are able to reach them with regular updates. Associations and districts should check their listing on the Lake List on our website and send along updates. We do not make board members’ emails public, but we do use them for our periodic (monthly) updates. We also have created a Facebook group for board members to join (https://www.facebook.com/groups/578587483880637/). We want to provide more ways for lake people to interact and collaborate in order to tackle lake and organizational challenges.
Finally, we invite you to share your feedback about Lake Tides. What content are you finding most useful? What topics do you think merit more coverage? With a bit more time between issues, we want to track down important and interesting stories that we hope will motivate you to do more for the lake(s) in your area. Email or call us to share your thoughts!
What is the Lake List?
The Lake List is a searchable directory of Wisconsin lake organizations. You can use it to find a lake organization or officer, see how folks deal with lake management issues by checking out their management profile, and obtain contact information for many businesses that service the needs of lake organizations.
uwsp.edu/uwexlakes
Support Lake Tides in Perpetuity
An endowment fund was started to eventually support undergraduate fellowships, graduate assistantships, newsletter production expenses, and other Lake Tides expenses. To contribute to this endowment account, please go to https://give.uwsp.edu/give-now
Type “lakes” into the search bar and when “No Results” comes up, scroll down and
Enter Fund Name: “Wisconsin Lakes Partnership Program Endowment”
Enter amount and proceed to fill out your personal details and billing information and confirm donation
With projected inflation of both printing and mailing costs, and no additional funds for the newsletter, we will still need to take additional steps after reducing the number of yearly editions of Lake Tides from four to three."
Subject
Lake Tides, Extension Lakes
Permanent Link
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1793/95130Type
Article
Description
"
By Eric Olson, Director and Lakes Specialist, Extension Lakes
It usually only takes one experience of ignoring the fuel gauge for a boater to learn their lesson. The humbling experience of asking for a tow or seeking someone to share some fuel sticks with you, and from then on, you find yourself glancing at the instrument panel much more diligently. So it is with annual budgets; finding yourself getting close to an “empty tank” financially causes heightened awareness of how far you can get with what you have left.
For Lake Tides, the forces of inflation in the last several years have caused our financial fuel tank to run rather low lately. To better understand the issues, it helps to have a more complete view of how Extension Lakes and much of the Wisconsin Lakes and Rivers Partnership are funded, which is just one avenue Wisconsin uses to support water resources and conservation.
Lake Tides is a publication of Extension Lakes housed at UW-Stevens Point but primarily funded through an agreement with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The DNR is the lead state agency responsible for managing, protecting, and restoring the state’s streams, rivers, and lakes. This responsibility is part of what we often refer to as the Public Trust Doctrine, which protects the rights of the people of Wisconsin regarding:
Transportation and navigation on waterways.
Protection of water quality and aquatic habitat.
Recreational activities, including boating, fishing, hunting, and swimming in waterways.
Enjoyment of scenic beauty while on the water.
Within the DNR there are multiple different funding sources and budget allocations, incorporating everything from fishing and hunting license sales to state park revenue to fees charged for different permits. The DNR also receives a portion of the overall state sales and income tax (referred to as general purpose revenue or GPR). According to a study of Wisconsin’s conservation finances published last year by the non-partisan Wisconsin Policy Forum, GPR funding for the DNR has decreased nearly 70% over the last 25 years! This has resulted in an increased reliance on non-GPR dollars as well as a reduction in the size of the DNR workforce.
Funding Source
Lakes and rivers have long enjoyed a dedicated funding stream to help pay for staff as well as the annual surface water grant program (which provides over $6M in cost-sharing funds for lake and river protection and restoration). The Water Resources Account is funded by estimating the amount of state gasoline tax paid by in-state and out-of-state motor boaters. Since people do not operate boats on roads and highways, it makes sense to divert that tax revenue from the pumps before it is transferred to the Department of Transportation. A similar approach is used for ATVs and snowmobiles, with funding directed to trail development and maintenance.
Since there is no way to know exactly how much gas is sold for boating purposes, Wisconsin uses an estimate based on the number of boats that are registered in the state. An in-depth, statistically sound survey of boaters conducted in 1989-1990 found that the average boat in Wisconsin burns 50 gallons of gas a year, and that there are about 40% more boats than are registered in Wisconsin due to visiting boaters from other states. To estimate the gas tax attributable to boats, the state multiplies the number of registered boats x 50 gallons x 39.09 cents (the state gasoline tax rate), then adds 40% more to account for visiting boats.
For a long time, the number of boats registered in Wisconsin grew with the population, and the per-gallon gasoline tax used to increase based on the rate of inflation. Automatic increases in the gas tax rate stopped in 2006, and in recent years the number of boats registered in Wisconsin has held steady at just over 600,000. This has resulted in roughly $13 million annually to the water resources account.
Unbalanced Growth
The challenge today is that while the per-gallon gas tax rate has not been growing, the cost of just about everything else is. More specifically, the cost of printing and mailing this newsletter (which is funded by the Water Resources Account) has grown rather dramatically in recent years. This expense is in addition to the time and effort that staff and volunteer writers put into making this newsletter possible. Our physical mailing list includes nearly 25,000 addresses, which means we get low per-piece printing prices and we receive the U.S. Postal Service’s bulk mail discounts. Due to increases in paper costs and the postal rates, the total Lake Tides expense is on a trajectory to possibly double in a ten-year time period. In response, we have been working to reduce costs by “cleaning up” the mailing list, eliminating any possible duplicates and gently asking recipients, who are willing, to switch their mailed copy to an online version.
Information Age
Another consideration for the future of Lake Tides is, of course, technology. The way in which people receive and share information has changed dramatically over the last 50 years. The most rapid and innovative developments have been in the last decade or two with the widespread adoption of smart phones, the persistence of email, and the rise of social media. In the 1970s, when Extension Lakes and the DNR wanted to share timely updates with lake districts and other people working on lake issues, a quarterly newsletter was a good fit. Today, we use an email service to send monthly updates to lake district and lake association board members directly. (If you’re not receiving these monthly updates and you are on a lake group board, please contact us at lakes@uwsp.edu or 715-346-2116!) The DNR also maintains email directories through a service called GovDelivery (search for Wisconsin GovDelivery, enter your email, and sign up for the updates that interest you). While it takes staff time to administer our lists and compose messages, the sending of bulk emails is relatively free. There remains an issue of whether these emails are ever opened and read; generally only about a quarter of them are.
Our Readers Matter
We want to be mindful of you, the reader, when contemplating these changes. When we have surveyed our readers in the past, we found that the majority of people getting this newsletter prefer having it in hard copy. Like a magazine, the hard copy Lake Tides allows for more casual reading at the cabin, and it enables you to share your copy with others by either leaving it on the coffee table or passing it along to your new neighbor. Just this summer we received a letter from a long-time reader thanking us for continuing to provide hard-copy editions of Lake Tides, stating “Many thanks for printing ‘Lake Tides’ with paper and ink. I’m a senior citizen, born in 1931, I don’t have a computer…”
We also have asked if people would be willing to subscribe and pay for Lake Tides; the results were mixed, with most people indicating they would not do so. Moving to a subscription model would make sure the mailing list is continuously up-to-date, but it also creates a new set of tasks around managing the subscriptions and a possible increase in the per piece cost. Most importantly, we want to make sure everyone has access to this publication.
Taking Steps Now
In the meantime, we need to take some steps to mitigate these budget impacts and make sure no one has to metaphorically tow us to the shore. For 2025, we will only be printing and mailing Lake Tides three times rather than four. We will also be regularly asking readers to contact us to ensure they continue receiving the paper copy. We may eventually need to do a “purge” of the mailing list, requiring people to definitively affirm that they wish to keep receiving the hard copy in the mail. This step will likely occur over time to maximize the odds that a reader sees that we are doing this and has an opportunity to respond. This is not an unprecedented action, but the last time it was done was over 20 years ago.
We also want those people who are involved in lake organization leadership (board members, etc.) to take steps to make sure we are able to reach them with regular updates. Associations and districts should check their listing on the Lake List on our website and send along updates. We do not make board members’ emails public, but we do use them for our periodic (monthly) updates. We also have created a Facebook group for board members to join (https://www.facebook.com/groups/578587483880637/). We want to provide more ways for lake people to interact and collaborate in order to tackle lake and organizational challenges.
Finally, we invite you to share your feedback about Lake Tides. What content are you finding most useful? What topics do you think merit more coverage? With a bit more time between issues, we want to track down important and interesting stories that we hope will motivate you to do more for the lake(s) in your area. Email or call us to share your thoughts!
What is the Lake List?
The Lake List is a searchable directory of Wisconsin lake organizations. You can use it to find a lake organization or officer, see how folks deal with lake management issues by checking out their management profile, and obtain contact information for many businesses that service the needs of lake organizations.
uwsp.edu/uwexlakes
Support Lake Tides in Perpetuity
An endowment fund was started to eventually support undergraduate fellowships, graduate assistantships, newsletter production expenses, and other Lake Tides expenses. To contribute to this endowment account, please go to https://give.uwsp.edu/give-now
Type “lakes” into the search bar and when “No Results” comes up, scroll down and
Enter Fund Name: “Wisconsin Lakes Partnership Program Endowment”
Enter amount and proceed to fill out your personal details and billing information and confirm donation
With projected inflation of both printing and mailing costs, and no additional funds for the newsletter, we will still need to take additional steps after reducing the number of yearly editions of Lake Tides from four to three."