Bill Cochran is a Roanoke Times outdoors columnist.

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• Trout stocking schedule

It wasn’t the kind of financial report you’d hope for: revenues down; expenditures up.

But that’s what the board of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries heard from Ray Davis, the agency’s director of administration.

Not to worry, yet, Davis said. “I sleep well at night and I’m always the first to worry,” he said.

That bit of reassurance may have helped, but board members expressed concern and said they wanted a clearer view of what is going on. Sherry Crumley, board chairman from Botetourt County, told Davis to have an updated analysis ready by next month.

What came up short was fishing and hunting license money, which is the meat and potatoes of the agency’s financial support.

Fishing license revenues were down nearly $750,000. Hunting license sales were down just over $220,000, according to the review of the first half of the fiscal year.

“We don’t know what is happening there. We don’t know if we have a trend or not,” said Davis.

For a number of years, hunting license sales have been declining and fishing license sales have remained stable, but have not kept up with population growth. Then, sales began to creep back up again in Virginia and across the nation. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported that hunting license sales nationwide increased .3 percent in 2004 over the previous year. That’s not much, but enough to bring glee to wildlife officials.

The financial report that Davis presented could mean that the trend was short lived and that we’ve kicked back into the slow decline mode.

Or it could mean that the agency’s new automated license sales system skewed the figures by registering revenue last fiscal year that normally would have been reported this time.

One puzzling tidbit is that the new crossbow hunting license failed to spike hunting license sales. That was the first new license or license increase that DGIF has had for a long while and it is a disappointment to register a revenue decline the year it was introduced.

Weighing heavily on the downward revenue trend are major expenditure increases. Operating expenses are more than $2 million above the previous time period. Some 54 percent of that represents the higher cost of personnel.

Funds in reserve to operate fish, game, boat and non-game programs all are down.

Board members didn’t discuss the possibility of increasing resident hunting and fishing license fees. The General Assembly gave the board authority to raise fees several years ago; however, that card would be difficult to play because of the stigma of improprieties at the agency. Problems are being resolved, but it is going to be awhile before DGIF can reach out to its troubled constituents for more money.

Easiest to raise are nonresident fees, and board members briefly discussed that potential. Davis was asked to determine how Virginia’s nonresident fees compare to other states.

The DGIF hopes to shore up money it loses to the General Fund through the diversion of Watercraft Sales and Use Tax and HB 38 money, which is sales tax collected by the state on wildlife-related equipment. In his State of the Commonwealth speech, Gov Tim Kaine said he wanted DGIF to have the HB 38 money due it. That was a refreshing thought.

The watercraft money will be vital to increase warden patrols on Smith Mountain Lake and to cover mandated boater education that is being called for by several bills in the General Assembly. But it may be difficult for lawmakers to funnel the watercraft and HB 38 funds to the DGIF while talking about increasing taxes to meet transportation needs.

There always is some legislator quick to pilfer DGIF funds. The prizewinner this session is Del. Thomas Wright, R-Victoria. His HB 6 would allow every resident of the state who has served in the military after Sept. 11, 2001 to obtain all the required hunting and fishing licenses issued by DGIF free of charge for one year. The exception would be lifetime licenses.

DGIF officials have no idea what that would cost the agency. If a recipient took full advantage, the value for a resident would be $80. For the nonresident who qualifies, the value would be $275.

Certainly there is respect for those who have served, but how can a small agency struggling with finances be asked to bear such a burden? If tribute is to be given, why not free automobile tags or exemption from the state tax? Why is everyone so generous with DGIF money?