[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
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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.

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

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


------------------------------------------------------------------------
                       Fiscal year                          Metric tons
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                                                          5-Year rolling
                      Field office                            FY 2016         FY 2017         FY 2018         FY 2019         FY 2020         average
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                   FY 2020 Local
          Field office             administrative    Calculated FY 2021
                                       costs          local tonnage fee
------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Orleans....................         $1,209,886                $0.019
League City....................            574,717                 0.056
Portland.......................            346,941                 0.085
Toledo.........................            238,162                 0.138
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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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