fishing license increase shot down

http://triblive.com/state...se-fishing-license-fee

Arway played with the bull, and he got the horns. There will be no increase until he shows himself the door.

They keep those reserves for future expenditures.  i.e. all of the failing dams, sediment dredging, invasive species (weeds) ect.
 
Schools do the same.  i.e. Building maintenance, expansion/contraction, ect.
 
Both have to deal with inflation too.  Going 12 years without a fee raise, likely just means they over charged us for at least 6 of those 12 years...  They should find the minimum charge, and raise the cost every year to adjust for inflation, IMO.  Your neighbors on the local school boards, help when it comes to the school issues.  We are at the mercy of career politicians at the state level.

Porktown, our local school board has never used their reserves. We just got a new high school, made the old high school a middle school, built a new $4 million dollar football field, with an $800,000 cost overrun, and all they ever do is raise taxes. I vote, but I refuse to vote for anyone running for the school board who crossfiles. If they crossfile, they're only in it for the power, and in local politics, there is no higher power than the school board, 'cause they have the power to tax. If they don't have conviction to either party, they ain't gettin' my vote.
 
On licensing, it wouldn't bother me for a yearly increase adjusted for inflation. But when ya get the license, then ya need the trout stamp and the Erie stamp if you do multi-species. It's sad that as a non-resident, you can fish all year for any species in New York state for $50. (and you can carry the license in your pocket or wallet).

Lindisfarne
I really don't mind the money they keep in reserves if they have to, but what really grinds my gears is why that money is sitting there while lakes deteriorate all around the state. Tamerack and Cranberry Glade pop into mind first. How can tamarack still be empty if they have that much money in reserve?
Having PA legislators looking into their budget doesn't make me feel any better, they ran the state budget into the ground and are still digging deeper. If increasing the license fee, or adding optional tags (preferred option), I hope to see more habitat improvements and less harassment about not wearing a stupid life jacket. 

PENSIONS

I am kind of surprised that Tamarack is still empty, as I think they used that as a musky breeding lake, or something that was beyond just recreational.  If I am not mistaken.  I would imagine there is some sort of priority structure as well.  Which would imagine they would be higher than many lakes, if so.
 
There is also the issue with multiple funding sources for most of these projects.  The PFBC might have theirs secured, but other entities don't have the funds (i.e. local municipalities, US Dept of Interior or USACE, ect).  So, the PFBC's just sits in reserves until the other funds are available.
 
The real issue is that most of these reservoirs were thrown together with very little concern of long term safety.  They didn't know much better back then in most cases, so not really doing it on purpose.  They were able to build a lot of nice little lakes all through PA for relatively little cost.  After decades of use and erosion, most of those dams that they put up, have hit their life cycle and potential disasters in the making.  Many seemed to be deemed that, about the same time, which is an inconvenience to us.  Although, I believe there has been talk about it for a long time.  To make reservoirs that will last, with much less chance of damaging floods, those costs are much more than they were prior.  We have the same issues with roads and other infrastructure in PA.  Likely why funding is hard to coordinate with municipalities that are looking for ways to pay for those other infrastructure costs that are much higher importance to them.  Prices of those dams likely just spiked by 3-4% in the past few weeks too...  I doubt you will see any movement until the uncertainty of supply costs are resolved.  It's government, they are really good at waiting...