The Office of Financial Management (OFM) today posted on its website an inventory of state agency fees. The 2008 Fee Inventory is in response to a budget proviso passed by lawmakers in the 2008 supplemental budget. According to OFM:
Chapter 329, Section 127(15), Laws of 2008 requires that the Office of Financial Management “conduct a review and analysis of all fees for which the legislature has delegated to state agencies and institutions of higher education the ability to establish and determine the amount, either upon initial establishment or subsequent increases.”
The 2008 Fee Inventory includes only charges that meet the definition of a fee; it does not include charges such as penalties that are not fees for purposes of Chapter 43.135.055 Revised Code of Washington. Both fees set in statute and those set administratively by agencies are included.
The inventory also includes information about programs that these fees support. “Program” was defined by each agency in the most meaningful way for their information. Program may equate to activities used for budgeting purposes, as defined in the Activity Inventory; or, it may tie to program structure. Activity expenditures over the past five years are estimates since accounting for actual expenditures is only by program structure.
One of the features of the OFM Fee Inventory is a description for each fee of who benefits from the program supported. Having reviewed each agency's report, my favorite response to this question is for several fees under the control of the Department of Ecology.
Ecology's answers ranged from: "All Washington Citizens" to "Public" to "Breathing Public."
Hopefully the information from the OFM fee report will eventually be included in the state's pending searchable budget website or our proposed tax transparency website.
Click here to review OFM's 2008 Fee Inventory.
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