[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 31 (Friday, February 14, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8536-8537]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-02948]


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 Notices
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  Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 31 / Friday, February 14, 2020 / 
Notices  

[[Page 8536]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

[DOC. NO. AMS-FGIS-19-0107]


Grain Fees for Official Inspection and Weighing Services Under 
the United States Grain Standards Act (USGSA)

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is announcing the 
2020 fee schedule for official inspection and weighing services 
performed under the USGSA, as amended, in order to comply with agency 
regulations and the Agriculture Reauthorizations Act of 2015. This 
action publishes the annual review of Schedule A fees calculation and 
the resulting fees.

DATES: The new fees went into effect on January 1, 2020.

ADDRESSES:  Prospective customers can find the fee scheduled posted on 
the Agency's public website.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Denise Ruggles, FGIS Executive Program 
Analyst, USDA AMS; Telephone: (816) 659-8406; Email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The United States Grain Standards Act 
(USGSA) provides the Secretary of Agriculture with the authority to 
charge and collect reasonable fees to cover the costs of performing 
official services and the costs associated with managing the program. 
The regulations require that Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) 
annually review the national tonnage fees, local tonnage fees, and fees 
for service. After calculating the tonnage fees according to the 
regulatory formula in 7 CFR 800.71(b)(1), FGIS then reviews the amount 
of funds in the operating reserve at the end of the fiscal year (FY2019 
in this case) to ensure that it has 4\1/2\ months of operating expenses 
as required by section 800.71(b)(2) of the regulations. If the 
operating reserve has more, or less than 4\1/2\ months of operating 
expenses, then FGIS must adjust all Schedule A fees. For each 
$1,000,000, rounded down, that the operating reserve varies from the 
target of 4\1/2\ months, FGIS will adjust all Schedule A fees by 2 
percent. If the operating reserve exceeds the target, all Schedule A 
fees will be reduced. If the operating reserve does not meet the 
target, all Schedule A fees will be increased. The maximum annual 
increase or decrease in fees is 5 percent (7 CFR 800.71(b)(2)(i)-(ii)).
    Tonnage fees for the 5-year rolling average tonnage were calculated 
on the previous 5 fiscal years 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. 
Tonnage fees consist of the national tonnage fee and local tonnage fee 
and are calculated and rounded to the nearest $0.001 per metric ton. 
The tonnage fees are calculated as following:
    National tonnage fee. The national tonnage fee is the national 
program administrative costs for the previous fiscal year divided by 
the average yearly tons of export grain officially inspected and/or 
weighed by delegated States and designated agencies, excluding land 
carrier shipments to Canada and Mexico, and outbound grain officially 
inspected and/or weighed by FGIS during the previous 5 fiscal years.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN14FE20.001


------------------------------------------------------------------------
                       Fiscal year                          Metric tons
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2015....................................................     118,758,937
2016....................................................     122,330,979
2017....................................................     135,017,935
2018....................................................     129,687,652
2019....................................................     107,896,235
5-year Rolling Average..................................     122,738,348
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The national program administrative costs for fiscal year 2019 were 
$6,836,376. The fiscal year 2020 national tonnage fee, prior to the 
operating reserve review, is calculated to be at $0.056 per metric ton.
    Local tonnage fee. The local tonnage fee is the field office 
administrative costs for the previous fiscal year divided by the 
average yearly tons of outbound grain officially inspected and/or 
weighed by the field office during the previous 5 fiscal years.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN14FE20.002

    The field offices fiscal year tons for the previous 5 fiscal years 
and calculated 5-year rolling average are as follows:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                                                          5-year rolling
                      Field office                            FY 2015         FY 2016         FY 2017         FY 2018         FY 2019         average
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Orleans.............................................      65,244,517      66,077,535      70,439,862      66,996,126      57,807,378      65,313,084
League City.............................................      12,474,343      12,581,236      13,307,780       8,424,216       7,939,994      10,945,514
Portland................................................       4,111,533       4,645,754       5,175,459       4,643,241       2,530,648       4,221,327

[[Page 8537]]

 
Toledo..................................................       2,484,604       2,030,506       2,229,920       1,802,762       1,597,584       2,029,075
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The local field office administrative costs for fiscal year 2019 
and the fiscal year 2020 calculated local field office tonnage fee, 
prior to the operating reserve review, are as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           FY 2019 local   Calculated FY
              Field office                administrative    2020 local
                                               costs        tonnage fee
------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Orleans.............................      $1,517,733          $0.023
League City.............................         755,374           0.069
Portland................................         329,221           0.078
Toledo..................................         236,158           0.116
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Operating reserve. In order to maintain an operating reserve not 
less than 3 and not more than 6 months, FGIS reviewed the value of the 
operating reserve at the end of FY2019 to ensure that an operating 
reserve of 4\1/2\ months is maintained.
    The program operating reserve at the end of fiscal year 2019 was 
$15,543,893 with a monthly operating expense of $3,159,182. The target 
of 4.5 months of operating reserve is $14,216,321. Therefore, the 
operating reserve is greater than 4.5 times the monthly operating 
expenses by $1,327,572. For each $1,000,000, rounded down, above the 
target level, all Schedule A fees must be reduced by 2 percent. The 
operating reserve is $1.3 million above the target level resulting in a 
calculated 2 percent reduction, as required by 800.71(b)(2)(ii). 
Therefore, for 2020, FGIS is reducing all the 2019 Schedule A fees for 
service in Schedule A in paragraph (a)(1) by 2 percent. All Schedule A 
fees for service are rounded to the nearest $0.10, except for fees 
based on tonnage or hundredweight. The fee Schedule A has been 
published on the agency's public website.

    Authority:  7 U.S.C. 71-87k.

    Dated: February 10, 2020.
Bruce Summers,
Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service.
[FR Doc. 2020-02948 Filed 2-13-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3410-02-P