Grousing Increases Over Sports License Fees

By John Voket

Jan Newman remembers the day all the state fees for fishing and other sports licenses suddenly doubled. She and her husband, Rich, who operate Newtown Bait & Tackle on South Main Street, only had one day’s notice ahead of the 100 percent increase, which affected sporting licenses pretty much across the board.

“It just hit us one morning, and people were screaming at us,” Ms Newman recalled. “For some dad who wanted to take his kids out to fish at Hawley Pond, we’re talking about an unexpected increase from $60 to $120 just to get their licenses and to fish legally.”

They say since that day in 2009, they have borne the brunt of customer complaints as well as heard from many patrons who have lost jobs and have turned their recreational hobby into a means of putting dinner on the table. Many of those individuals were forced to poach and break the law because they could not afford the fee hike, Ms Newman explained.

A number of the Newmans’ concerns were heard, and are being acted upon, by Newtown’s State Representative Chris Lyddy, who paid a visit to the store a few days after the state as suddenly and unceremoniously rolled back the fees — coincidentally just a few days ahead of the traditional opening day of the 2010 fishing season.

Surprisingly, the fee rollback has also generated more complaints than praise, because, as the Newmans explained to Rep Lyddy, a lot of anglers obtained their licenses early so they would not be delayed in the last minute rush in the few days ahead of the season’s opening. This means they paid the doubled license fees only to see the latecomers enjoy the benefit of having those fees cut in half at the last minute.

Calling the move “a victory for Connecticut sportsmen and sportswomen,” Rep Lyddy hailed the house action that rolled back the 100 percent increase on state park and camping fees, along with hunting and fishing licenses.

In a release after the announcement, Rep Lyddy said, “To double the fees last year for camping and hunting and fishing licenses was a burden on people and I have been working to push down these costs.”

But after just a few minutes talking with the Newmans, and several patrons who milled about the cozy store on Route 25, Rep Lyddy said he was ready to go back to Hartford to see what he could do about providing some relief to the many sports enthusiasts who were inadvertently punished for obtaining their licenses early.

A few days later Rep Lyddy told The Bee that he had spoken with a number of his colleagues as well as to the members on the environment committee about his constituents’ concerns.

“The legislature is having conversations with the new commissioner of DEP [Department of Environmental Protection] regarding the issue of giving credits to the people who purchased their fishing and hunting licenses prior to the rollback that recently went into effect,” Rep Lyddy said. “We are gathering information about how many people this would effect, how much money in credits this would mean for the next fiscal year, and whether or not the department has the capacity to track this information.”

Rep Lyddy said he was committed to pursuing the issue and will advocate on behalf of those people who had to pay more for their licenses than the current charge.

Ms Newman said the first victims of the fee increase were stores like hers and her husband’s, because any additional cash that anglers and sports license customers had to shell out for increased license fees came right out of the cash register.

“If a guy was coming in here to get his license and a new reel, and he had to pay $40 instead of $20 for the license,” Mr Newman said, “then he didn’t have enough for the reel so he doesn’t end up spending any money in the store.”

The $480 million package of cuts and adjustments that included the sports and recreation fee rollbacks received bipartisan support and passed both the House and Senate. The 2010 deficit mitigation legislation included the provision that reduced last year’s increase on state park fees and hunting and fishing licenses.

Increased Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) fines for violators, such as the minimum fine for speeding increasing from $35 to $50, will cover the cost.