The
Board is inviting comments from lobbyists, political committees, political
funds, principal campaign committees, and party units concerning the following
internal guidelines and assumptions that the study team plans to use in preparing
the study report. Please note that
the guidelines are a Working Draft in progress and are subject to change.
Address all comments to Jeanne Olson: e-mail Jeanne.Olson@state.mn.us, or fax 651/296-1722,
or U.S. Mail to the Board’s address referenced on this Website.
Please provide comments by Friday, September 12, 2003.
Guidelines
1.
The Board’s report will
present a limited number of fee schedule options consistent with the
legislative directive.
2.
In developing a fee
schedule, consideration will be given to fee schedule options and ideas
presented to committees during the last legislative session, options and ideas presented in writing by the
entities that the Board is directed to be “in consultation with,” and the
practices and policies of other states.
3.
A
fee schedule will promote simplicity for the Board’s clients and for staff
administration of the fees.
4.
Every
entity (of the types listed in the study directive) that comes under the
Board’s statutory purview and is the subject of any level of activity by staff
will pay a fee.
5.
Options
will include a fee schedule that recovers the Board’s full budget – less the
amount not allocable to the entities listed in the study directive (see item
10) – and may include one or more options that recover less than the Board’s
full budget as so modified.
6.
Indirect
cost allocations will be based on the usual practices for state government.
7.
Because
the Board’s work varies based on multi-year election and reporting cycles, the
period for comparative analysis will be the state biennium. The FY02-03
biennium will be used for historical information; the FY05-06 fiscal years will
be used to project activities and budget as the basis for costs and fee
schedule. Personnel-related costs attributable to each entity type for FY05-06
will be estimated based on activities and costs during the FY02-03 biennium,
adjusted for changes that can be estimated from available information.
8.
One-time
or unusual costs (such as for information systems, etc.) will be projected if
information is available, or determined on the basis of historical information.
9.
Within
each type of entity, the basis for higher or lower fees for groupings of
individual entities (if variation within entity type is deemed appropriate)
may be based on differences in workload indicators (estimated) attributable to
them, differences in direct and/or indirect costs attributable to them, another
recognized basis for difference (as an example, levels of their expenditures),
or a combination of factors.
10.
A
portion of the costs of the gift ban program will be included in
calculations to the extent that the costs relate to entities named in the
statutory directive. However, the following Board costs will not be
included in calculations of a fee schedule, based on language of the statutory
directive: costs related to regulation of public officials, local officials in
metropolitan governmental units, and the individuals who file forms for Public
Employees Retirement Association, Minnesota Technology Inc., and State Board of
Investment.