Report on Resources

The ministry is committed to supporting the government's plan to balance the budget and achieve its fiscal targets. The information below provides an overview of ministry funding and expenditures during 2003/04 and compares it with funding and expenditures from the previous fiscal year. Ministry capacity is also discussed and a Resource Summary provided for 2003/04 by Core Business Area. (For additional financial information see Appendix D: Notes on Data Completeness, Reliability and Methodology.)

Ministry Funding

The total gross funding available at the beginning of fiscal 2003/04 for ministry operations was $169.682 million. This funding was derived from the following sources:

• Voted appropriation. This is the largest source of ministry funding, which provided $98.712 million.
• Statutory appropriation. The Sustainable Environment Fund authorizes the collection of waste permit fees under the Environmental Management Act and revenue collection under the Social Services Tax Act (e.g., taxes collected for products such as children's disposable diapers, which are used for environmental protection programs). This funding source provided $31.345 million.
• Other authorizations. Contingency access provided $0.489 million.
• Other recoveries. This funding, which is acquired from inside and outside of government for ministry services, totaled $39.136 million.

Comparison of 2003/04 and 2002/03 Funding

Implementation of some of the recommendations from the Recreation Stewardship Panel resulted in a forecasted increase of $13.976 million in recreational revenues available to fund related programs (see Figure 7). The ministry was also granted increased contingency access of $0.418 million over 2002/03. Overall, the ministry's budget was $18.043 million lower in 2003/04 than in 2002/03 due to a reduction in voted appropriation.

Figure 7. Three-year comparison of actual recreational revenues (Source: BC Draft Public Accounts 2003-2004)

Ministry Expenditures

The largest expenditure for the ministry was salary and benefits ($73.260 million), which accounted for 46% of annual spending (see Figure 8). Operating costs ($65.973 million), which included professional services contracts, parks operating contracts and payments to the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC, accounted for 41% of gross expenditures. Transfer payments ($11.501 million) totaled 7%. Other spending, including property purchase tax for acquisition of protected areas land, was 6%.

Figure 8. Gross expenditures for fiscal 2003/04 (Source: BC Draft Public Accounts 2003 – 2004)

Comparison of 2003/04 and 2002/03 Expenditures

The gross expenditures in 2003/04 decreased by $17.546 million from 2002/03 (see Figure 9). These decreases were:

• $1.822 million in salaries and benefits due to work force adjustment;
• $4.242 million in operating costs including reduced building occupancy costs and decreased materials and supplies expenditures;
• $7.977 million in government transfers as the majority of start-up costs associated with ministry partnerships were paid in 2002/2003;
• $3.505 million in other expenditures including a reduction in shared and corporate costs; and
• Direct training costs increased from $392/FTE in 2002/03 to $447/FTE in 2003/04.

Figure 9. Three-year comparison of gross expenditures (Source: BC Draft Public Accounts 2003 – 2004)

Capacity

The 2004/05 – 2006/07 Service Plan indicates that the ministry's budget is expected to stabilize over the next three years after a significant period of transition, in which the ministry reduced its budgeted FTE allocation from 1,298 in 2001/02 to 998 in 2003/04. However, the complex nature of the ministry's mandate means that ministry staff must address a wide range of issues and carry out numerous activities within this changed financial environment. During the last two years, the ministry has focused on key capacity areas such as:

• modernizing legislation to streamline processes and eliminate backlogs, thereby enabling staff to focus on high-priority issues (e.g., the Integrated Pest Management Act; the Environmental Management Act);
• exploring opportunities to share stewardship and partner with others for service delivery (e.g., Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC; Government Agents Offices);
• investing in information systems to improve processing, monitoring and reporting capability (e.g., Information Resource Management Plan; establishment of the Monitoring and Reporting Committee); and
• tracking costs on a monthly basis compared to budget allocations to maximize the effectiveness of program spending and increase accountability (e.g., aligning the Chart of Accounts to the Service Plan).

The ministry's ability to make advances in organizational capacity over the next three years, while meeting its targets, may be largely dependent on maintaining current staffing levels and tourism growth, increasing recreational revenues and continuing to focus on the above capacity areas.

Table 3 below compares revenue and expense trends by account group classification for three fiscal years.

Table 3. Three-year breakdown of revenue and expenditures (Source: BC Public Accounts and Estimates)

		Resource Summary by Core Business Areas