[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 5 (Friday, January 8, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1475-1476]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-00165]
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Notices
Federal Register
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This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 5 / Friday, January 8, 2021 /
Notices
[[Page 1475]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Agricultural Marketing Service
[Doc. No. AMS-FGIS-20-0094]
Grain Fees for Official Inspection and Weighing Services Under
the United States Grain Standards Act (USGSA)
AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is announcing the
2021 fee schedule for official inspection and weighing services
performed under the USGSA, as amended, in order to comply with Federal
Grain Inspection Service 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 fee schedule went into effect on January 1, 2021.
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 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 the
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 (FY2020 in this case)
to ensure that it has 4\1/2\ months of operating expenses as required
by Sec. 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--2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.
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 follows:
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] TN08JA21.020
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Fiscal year Metric tons
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2016.................................................... 122,330,979
2017.................................................... 135,017,935
2018.................................................... 129,687,652
2019.................................................... 107,896,235
2020.................................................... 110,090,771
5-year Rolling Average.................................. 121,004,714
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The national program administrative costs for fiscal year 2020 were
$5,704,963. The fiscal year 2021 national tonnage fee, prior to the
operating reserve review, is calculated to be at $0.047 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] TN08JA21.021
The field office fiscal year tons for the previous 5 fiscal years
and calculated 5-year rolling averages are as follows:
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5-Year rolling
Field office FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018 FY 2019 FY 2020 average
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New Orleans............................................. 66,077,535 70,439,862 66,996,126 57,807,378 59,768,303 64,217,841
League City............................................. 12,581,236 13,307,780 8,424,216 7,939,994 9,318,595 10,314,364
[[Page 1476]]
Portland................................................ 4,645,754 5,175,459 4,643,241 2,530,648 3,331,672 4,065,355
Toledo.................................................. 2,030,506 2,229,920 1,802,762 1,597,584 948,840 1,721,922
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The local field office administrative costs for fiscal year 2020
and the fiscal year 2021 calculated local field office tonnage fees,
prior to the operating reserve review, are as follows:
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FY 2020 Local
Field office administrative Calculated FY 2021
costs local tonnage fee
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New Orleans.................... $1,209,886 $0.019
League City.................... 574,717 0.056
Portland....................... 346,941 0.085
Toledo......................... 238,162 0.138
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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 FY2020 to ensure that an operating
reserve of 4\1/2\ months is maintained.
The program operating reserve at the end of fiscal year 2020 was
$10,007,544, with a monthly operating expense of $2,983,133. The target
of 4.5 months of operating reserve is $13,424,097. Therefore, the
operating reserve is less than 4.5 times the monthly operating expenses
by $3,416,553. For each $1,000,000, rounded down, below the target
level, all Schedule A fees must be increased by 2 percent. The
operating reserve is $3.4 million below the target level, resulting in
a calculated 5 percent increase, as required by Sec. 800.71(b)(2)(ii).
Therefore, for 2021, FGIS is increasing all the 2020 Schedule A fees
for service in Schedule A in paragraph (a)(1) by 5 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.)
Bruce Summers,
Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service.
[FR Doc. 2021-00165 Filed 1-7-21; 8:45 am]
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