[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 5 (Friday, January 7, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 920-921]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-00026]
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Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 5 / Friday, January 7, 2022 /
Notices
[[Page 920]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Agricultural Marketing Service
[Doc. No. AMS-FGIS-21-0092]
RIN 0581-AD94
2022 Rates for Grain Inspection Services Under the United States
Grain Standards Act
AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, Department of Agriculture
(USDA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is announcing the
2022 rate it will charge for official inspection and weighing services,
supervision of official inspection and weighing services, and
miscellaneous fees for other services performed under the United States
Grain Standards Act, as amended. This action publishes the annual
review of fees and the resulting fees.
DATES: Applicable February 1, 2022.
ADDRESSES: Prospective customers can find the fee scheduled posted on
the Agency's public website: https://www.ams.usda.gov/about-ams/fgis-program-directives.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Denise Ruggles, FGIS Executive Program
Analyst, USDA AMS; Telephone: 816-702-3897; 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 costs associated with managing the program. The
regulations require that Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS)
annually review the national and local tonnage fees, supervision fee,
and fees for service (7 CFR 800.71).
7 CFR 800.71(a)(1) Schedule A Calculations
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 (FY2021 in this
case) to ensure that it has 4\1/2\ months of operating expenses as
required by section 800.71(b)(3) 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)(3)(i)-(ii)).
Tonnage fees for the 5-year rolling average tonnage were calculated
on the previous 5 fiscal years (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021).
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.
The fiscal year 2022 national tonnage fee, prior to the operating
reserve review, is $0.054 per metric ton. The calculation of this fee
rate is based on FY2021 national administrative costs of $6,687,477,
divided by 5-year rolling tonnage average of 123,853,477.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal year Metric tons
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017.................................................... 135,017,935
2018.................................................... 129,687,652
2019.................................................... 107,896,235
2020.................................................... 110,090,771
2021.................................................... 136,574,792
5-Year Rolling Average.................................. 123,853,477
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 FGIS field offices during the previous 5 fiscal years.
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5-Year rolling
Field office FY 2017 FY 2018 FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 average
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New Orleans............................................. 70,439,862 66,996,126 57,807,378 59,768,303 72,482,289 65,498,792
League City............................................. 13,307,780 8,424,216 7,939,994 9,318,595 12,877,525 10,373,622
Portland................................................ 5,175,459 4,643,241 2,530,648 3,331,672 4,136,482 3,963,500
Toledo.................................................. 2,229,920 1,802,762 1,597,584 948,840 1,154,856 1,546,792
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The local field office administrative costs for fiscal year 2021
and the fiscal year 2022 calculated local field office tonnage fee,
prior to the operating reserve review, are as follows:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
FY 2021 local Calculated FY
Field office administrative 2022 local
costs tonnage fee
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New Orleans....................... $1,268,285 $0.019
[[Page 921]]
League City....................... 444,041 0.043
Portland.......................... 531,013 0.134
Toledo............................ 182,736 0.118
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Operating reserve. In order to maintain an operating reserve that
is not less than 3 and not more than 6 months of operating expenses,
FGIS reviewed the value of the operating reserve at the end of FY 2021
to ensure that an operating reserve equivalent to 4\1/2\ months of
operating expenses is maintained.
The program operating reserve at the end of fiscal year 2021 was
$7,073,637 with a monthly operating expense of $3,151,244. The target
of 4.5 months of operating reserve is $14,180,599. Therefore, the
operating reserve is less than 4.5 times the monthly operating expenses
by $7,073,637. For each $1,000,000, rounded down, above the target
level, all Schedule A fees must be increased by 2 percent. The
operating reserve is $7.1 million below the target level, implying a 14
percent increase in fees is required. However, section 800.71(b)(3)(ii)
limits annual fee changes to 5 percent. Therefore, for 2022, FGIS is
increasing all the 2021 Schedule A fees for service in Schedule A in
paragraph (a)(1) by 5 percent, including calculated fiscal year 2022
national and local tonnage fees. 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 will be published on the agency's
public website after Federal Register publication.
7 CFR 800.71(a)(2) Schedule B Calculations
FGIS calculates the supervision tonnage fee using the prior year's
actual costs and the 5-year average tonnage of domestic U.S. grain
shipments inspected, weighed, or both, including land carrier shipments
to Canada and Mexico.
Operating reserve adjustment. 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 FY 2021 to ensure that an
operating reserve of 6 months is maintained.
The operating reserve adjustment is the difference between FY 2021
ending reserves and the operating reserve threshold, which is
equivalent to 6 months of supervisory costs. FY 2021 supervision costs
were $1,369,123. The operating reserve threshold for FY 2022 is
calculated by dividing FY 2021 supervision costs by 2 ($1,369,123/2 =
$684,562). FY 2021 operating reserve ending balance ($2,042,268)
exceeds the operating reserve threshold ($684,562) by $1,357,707.
Therefore, the operating reserve adjustment for calendar year 2022 is -
$1,357,707.
Supervision tonnage fee. FGIS adds the total prior year supervision
costs and the operating reserve adjustment, then divide the result by
the previous 5-year average tonnage. If the calculated fee is zero or a
negative value, FGIS will suspend collection of supervision tonnage
fees for the next calendar year.
The supervision tonnage fee for calendar year 2022 is $0.000 per
ton. The calculation, based on FY 2021 supervision costs of $1,369,123,
is $1,369,123 plus the operating reserve adjustment of -$1,357,707,
which equals $11,416, divided by 5-year average tonnage of 231,147,201,
which equals $0.000 per ton.
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Fiscal year Metric tons
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2017.................................................... 244,355,906
2018.................................................... 234,298,085
2019.................................................... 206,693,881
2020.................................................... 237,649,430
2021.................................................... 232,738,700
5-Year Rolling Average.................................. 231,147,201
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Therefore, for 2022, FGIS will suspend the assessment of the
supervision tonnage fee on domestic shipments officially inspected and/
or weighed, including land carrier shipments to Canada and Mexico,
performed by delegated States and/or designated agencies on or after
January 1, 2022. The fee Schedule B will be published on the agency's
public website after Federal Register publication.
7 CFR 800.71(d) Miscellaneous Fees for Other Services Calculations
Registration certificates and renewals. FGIS calculates the
application fee by multiply the Schedule A non-contract hourly rate
(Table 1 in Sec. 800.71(a)) by a quantity of five. The resulting fee
is expected to cover FGIS personnel costs to review applications, fee
publication expenses, and administrative expenses. The Schedule A non-
contract hourly rate is $66.20. Thus, the application fee for 2022 will
be $66.20 times 5, or $331. The fee will be published on the agency's
public website after Federal Register publication.
Designation amendments. FGIS calculates the rate using the Federal
Register publication rate for three columns, plus one hour of
noncontract hourly rate from Sec. 800.71(a) Table 1 of Schedule A. The
fee covers FGIS personnel costs, administrative expenses, and Federal
Register publication costs. The Federal Register publication rate $151
per column and the Schedule A non-contract hourly rate is $66.20. FGIS
calculates the fee will be $519.20 for calendar year 2022. The fee will
be published on the agency's public website after Federal Register
publication.
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 71-87k.
Erin Morris,
Associate Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-00026 Filed 1-6-22; 8:45 am]
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