The Department of Agriculture and Markets is charged with fostering a competitive and safe New York State food and agricultural industry. Its major responsibilities include: encouraging the growth and prosperity of the State's agricultural and food industry; conducting various inspection and testing programs to enforce laws on food safety; animal and plant health and accuracy in labeling. The Department also acts to preserve the use of agricultural resources, improve soil and water quality and operate the annual State Fair in concert with the Industrial Exhibit Authority.

This Agency is included in the Transportation, Economic Development and Environmental Conservation appropriation bill.

The Executive proposes an All Funds appropriation of $141,504,000 in State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2003-04. This represents a $2,155,900 or 1.5 percent decrease below SFY 2002-03 levels.

State Operations

The Governor recommends an All Funds appropriation of $106,102,000, an increase of $2,059,400 or 1.98 percent over SFY 2002-03 levels. This includes an increase of $730,000 in General Fund support for administrative activities for one-time moving costs associated with the relocation of department headquarters.

The Governor recommends the consolidation of the operations of the Division of Dairy Industry Services and Producer Services with the Division of Milk Control. This results in the transfer of 47 full-time equivalent (fte) positions supported by the General Fund within the Consumer Food Services Program to the Agricultural Business Services Program. The impact of these actions for the Consumer Food Services Program would be to lower General Fund State Operations support by $2,661,000, offset by an increase of $492,000 relating to contractual obligations of the Department.

The Proposed consolidation would impact the Agricultural Business Services Program by increasing General Fund support for the State Operations of the Program by $2,841,000. However, this increase is offset by a reduction in General Fund support of $1,965,000 resulting from the transfer of support for 37 fte's from the General Fund to the Environmental Protection Fund.

In addition, the Executive makes the following recommendations relating to State Operations:

• An increase in Special Revenue Federal appropriations of $1,033,200 to provide spending authority to allow the Department to utilize additional Federal grants in SFY 2002-03;

• An increase of $522,500 in fee supported Special Revenue Other Funds appropriations within the Consumer Food Services Program to support contractual obligations for Food Inspectors and $709,100 in Enterprise Funds to support projected increased use of the State Fair facilities on a year round basis.

Aid to Localities

The Governor recommends an All Funds Aid to Localities appropriation of $32,802,000. This represents a net decrease of $4,215,000 from SFY 2002-03 levels. This decrease reflects the elimination of State support for Legislative additions provided in the SFY 2002-03 budget.

Capital Projects

The Executive proposes $2,600,000 in All Funds Capital Projects appropriations in SFY 2002-03. This maintains funding at SFY 2002-03 levels.

Article VII Proposals

The Governor proposes Article VII legislation which would:

• Increase the biennial fee for the licensure of slaughter houses, refrigerated warehouses and food salvage facilities from its current fee range of $20 to $200 to a flat fee for all licensees of $200;

• Increase biennial fees for licensure of nursery dealers and nursery growers from its current fee range of $20-40 to a flat biennial fee of $100;

• Establish a new biennial fee on unregistered/unlicensed retail stores of $200 for food warehouses and $100 for all other affected establishments;

• Establish a new annual fee of $25 for the granting of certificates of free sale for the producers of various agricultural products.