Letter of the week, 4/5/10: Something's fishy

[David]

Something’s fishy
Editor:

Imagine the shock of many fishermen in Connecticut when they went to their local town halls this year to get a fishing license, only to find that the license that cost them $20 last year has doubled in cost and is now $40. What makes it worse is the fact that the increase is going to the General Fund, and not to the state’s wildlife and fishery programs. And to add insult to injury, if they want to fish salt water, which they used to be able to do for free, they must now pay an additional $10. To enjoy the simple sport of fishing now costs $50 per year.

What is truly sad is the fact that for many lower income individuals, fishing used to be the only affordable sport that they could enjoy, while at the same time putting food on one’s table; it was often also an opportunity to share a beloved pastime with one’s children. Now, many people will not be able to afford the new fees; the state legislature, in its greed and lack of empathy for the people of this state, will wind up either denying a perennial joy from the people they are supposed to serve, or create a whole new class of criminals who will continue to pursue this time-honored tradition but cannot afford the fees.

The real irony? We can strip fishermen of their money to balance our state budget, but we can’t assess those who make more than $1 million a year a surcharge to accomplish the same purpose. It is sad that our state legislators appear to lack a conscience about what they are doing to those who only seek to enjoy one of life’s simplest pleasures. Our legislators should be ashamed of themselves.
JIM KRUPP, WALLINGFORD

[wawogi]

They will hike fees for the fishermen. They will hike fees for using the state parks (so much for Stay-cations!) Here a fee, there a fee, everywhere a fee, fee! Each one hits a little group here or a little group there, one or another will probably affect every one of us regular folks sometime somewhere. But they can pat themselves on the back that they didn't raise taxes! And the millionaires are safe. Now I understand they want to gamble the State's financial future on... wait for it... Gambling! Yes, Keno will save us! We shall borrow against the anticipated revenue from Keno! Hooray!

[CMNSNC]

Fishing licenses were already some of the highest in New England and to double them is just a slap in the face to the citizens of Ct.
Salt water fishing was free. Now it is $10. Most fishers do both, fresh and salt water. So now it will be $50 for a years license.
Consider this our state 'representatives'. Many parents take their children fishing. I don't know what the age limit is before one has to get a license, but if you have for instance, two children of age.
Your license...$40
Child number one...$40
Child number two...$40
Do the math....$120!!
If you also go salt water fishing add another $30.
In case you don't have a calculator handy....$150!!!
And not one thin dime goes to preserve our lakes, rivers or the Sound!
Nope! It all goes into the general fund 'black hole' where it will never be seen again unless you look in some state politicians pocket!
With the dismal state of our economy, fishing or other outdoor activities are all most of us have to look forward to.
And now you have taken that away!
Thank you very much!!!!

[Chriss P]

Some issues at hand are laziness and gluttony.

The state is too lazy to really dive in and roll up the sleeves to see where the waste and abuse of the taxpayers money is going to reduce the budget. They are too lazy to implement common sense cost cutting measures to reduce the budget.

I have worked for the state and there is a difference in where you work. At the DEP we worked on a shoe string budget and recycled lots of old gear and watched every penny. We worked 50 hr weeks at times but I got paid fully as a seasonal while my bosses didn't and only got paid for 35 hrs.

At another educational institution probably est not to name it) we sat around took 2 hour lunches, had many parties (seems someone had a birthday or occasion to celebrate every week), bought items at triple the cost from Office Depot or Office Max, made sure to spend every cent, and we bought extra expensive equipment and stashed it away unused. I like being busy and didn't want to sit around as it hurts by butt and I wasn't popular with my boss because of that fact. I wasn't used to that style of working.

The DEP is the only state agency whose budget has decreased since origination while other agencies practice a lot of waste of our taxpayers money. Unfortunately the DEP is baring the brunt of this fee increase.

This fee increase is going to backfire quite horrendously.

[CMNSNC]

Chriss P said it best.
The worker bees don't authorize expenditures, manage (or mis-) ment does.
Part of the problem is the way money is distributed to different agencies of government. If you don't use all of your allotment this year, next year you will get less, so it behooves the 'manager' to spend every dime!
No thought whatsoever as to returning the unused portion!
Efficiency is a word that has been deleted from a government's dictionary.
Waste has now been been put ahead of aardvark in said book!

[Chriss P]

Efficiency is probably what I was trying to tie into this. One can work to fix a boiler that is wasting oil and is inefficient. One can also neglect the boiler and let it burn oil while you sit back on the couch and watch TV. One will not mind burning and wasting oil if you can take money from others to pay for the oil.

Efficiency!! That's the word I was looking for.