[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 46 (Thursday, March 7, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16521-16523]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-04838]
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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. 89, No. 46 / Thursday, March 7, 2024 /
Notices
[[Page 16521]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Agricultural Marketing Service
[Doc. No. AMS-FGIS-23-0083]
2024 Rates for Grain Inspection Services Under the United States
Grain Standards Act
AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is announcing the
2024 rates 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 April 1, 2024.
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, or 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, as well as those associated with managing the
program. The grain inspection regulations require that the Federal
Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) conducts annual fee reviews of national
and local administrative costs related to grain volume/tonnage
inspected (7 CFR 800.71).
Overview of Schedule A (Official Inspection and Weighing Services) Fee
Calculations
The USGSA and its implementing regulations (7 CFR 800.71(b)(3)(i)
and (ii)) require FGIS to maintain an operating reserve of not less
than 3 and not more than 6 months' expenses. To comply with this
requirement, FGIS conducts an annual review of its tonnage fees and
operating reserves. Tonnage fees are calculated according to 7 CFR
800.71(b)(1). After calculating the tonnage fees, FGIS reviews the
amount of funds in the operating reserve at the end of the fiscal year
(FY) (FY2023 in this case) to ensure that it has 4\1/2\ months of
operating expenses. FGIS uses 4.5 months of expenses as its target
amount because section 800.71(b)(3) of the regulations specifies 4.5
months as the trigger for whether FGIS should make adjustments to its
fees. 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 (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023).
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.
Calculation of 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 FY2024 national tonnage fee, prior to the operating reserve
review, is $0.054 per metric ton. The calculation of this fee is based
on FY2023 national administrative costs of $6,250,062, divided by the
5-year rolling tonnage average of 114,983,338 metric tons.
Table 1--National Tonnage Inspected
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Fiscal year Metric tons
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2019.................................................... 107,896,235
2020.................................................... 110,090,771
2021.................................................... 136,574,792
2022.................................................... 123,745,530
2023.................................................... 96,609,360
5-year Rolling Average.................................. 114,983,338
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Calculation of 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.
Table 2--Local Tonnage Inspected by Field Office
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5-year rolling
Field office FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 FY2023 average
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New Orleans............................................. 57,807,378 59,768,303 72,482,289 68,880,711 56,312,940 63,050,324
League City............................................. 7,939,994 9,318,595 12,877,525 8,335,121 5,824,829 8,859,213
Pacific Northwest....................................... 2,530,648 3,331,672 4,136,482 2,720,001 1,754,725 2,894,706
Toledo.................................................. 1,597,584 948,840 1,154,856 1,191,938 790,400 1,136,724
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[[Page 16522]]
The local field office administrative costs for FY2023 and the
FY2024 calculated local field office tonnage fee, prior to the
operating reserve review, are as follows:
Table 3--Local Administrative Costs and Calculated Local Tonnage Fee by
Field Office
------------------------------------------------------------------------
FY2023 local Calculated FY
Field office administrative 2024 local
costs tonnage fee
------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Orleans............................. $715,554 $0.011
League City............................. 672,847 0.076
Pacific Northwest....................... 374,859 0.129
Toledo.................................. 167,053 0.147
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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 FY2023
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 FY2023 was ($504,270),
with a monthly operating expense of $2,645,846. The target of 4.5
months of operating reserve is $11,906,307. Therefore, the operating
reserve is $12,410,578 below the 4.5 months target level. Under the
regulations, 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 $12.4 million below the target level, indicating a larger
increase in fees would be required to fully restore the operating
reserve. However, section 800.71(b)(3)(i) limits annual fee changes to
5 percent. which will not increase the operating reserve to the minimum
statutory amount of 3 times the monthly operating expenses. In addition
to this fee adjustment, and pursuant to section 800.71(c) of the
regulations and section 7(j)(4) of the USGSA, FGIS is reviewing all
fees to ensure they reflect the true costs of providing and supervising
official service.
As described in this notice, FGIS is increasing all the 2023
Schedule A fees for service in Schedule A in Sec. 800.71(a)(1) by 5
percent for FY2024, including calculated FY2024 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.
Schedule A fees will be outlined in FGIS Directive 9180.74 and
published on the agency's public website. For example, national and
local tonnage fees are adjusted as follows:
Table 4--National Tonnage Fee With Operating Reserve Adjustment and FY2023 Fee
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Calculated
Fee description FY2024 calculation with FY2024 tonnage FY2023 tonnage
operating reserve adjustment fee fee
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National (Delegated States/Designated $0.054 plus 5% increase ($0.003) $0.057 $0.033
Agencies). equals $0.057.
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Table 5--Field Office Tonnage Fee With Operating Reserve Adjustment and FY2023 Fee
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Calculated
FY2024 calculation with FY2024 tonnage FY2023 tonnage
Fee description operating reserve adjustment fee (national fee
+ local)
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New Orleans................................... local fee $0.011 plus 5% $0.069 $0.055
increase ($0.001) equals $0.012.
League City................................... local fee $0.076 plus 5% 0.137 0.108
increase ($0.004) equals $0.080.
Pacific Northwest............................. local fee $0.129 plus 5% 0.192 0.158
increase ($0.006) equals $0.135.
Toledo........................................ local fee $0.147 plus 5% 0.211 0.310
increase ($0.007) equals $0.154.
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All Schedule A fees for service are rounded to the nearest $0.10,
except for fees based on tonnage or hundredweight. Schedule A fees will
be outlined in FGIS Directive 9180.74 and published on the agency's
public website.
Overview of Schedule B Fees (Fees for Supervision of Official
Inspection and Weighing Services Performed by Delegated States and
Designated Agencies in the United States)
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 of not less than 3 and not more than 6 months, FGIS reviewed
the value of the operating reserve at the end of FY2023 to ensure that
an operating reserve of 6 months is maintained.
[[Page 16523]]
The operating reserve adjustment is the difference between FY2023
ending reserves and the operating reserve threshold, which is
equivalent to 6 months of supervisory costs. FY2023 supervision costs
were $1,186,689. The operating reserve threshold for FY2024 is
calculated by dividing FY2023 supervision costs by 2 ($1,186,689/2 =
$593,345). The FY2023 operating reserve ending balance ($295,535) is
less than the operating reserve threshold ($593,345) by $297,810.
Therefore, the operating reserve adjustment for calendar year 2024 is
$297,810.
Supervision tonnage fee. FGIS adds the total prior year supervision
costs and the operating reserve adjustment, then divides 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 2024 is $0.007 per
ton. The calculation, based on FY2023 supervision costs of $1,186,689,
is $1,186,689 plus the operating reserve adjustment of $297,810, which
equals $1,484,499, divided by a 5-year average tonnage of 219,219,620,
which equals $0.007 per ton.
Table 6--Tonnage Supervised
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Fiscal year Metric tons
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2019.................................................... 206,693,881
2020.................................................... 237,649,430
2021.................................................... 232,738,700
2022.................................................... 225,570,903
2023.................................................... 193,445,187
5-year Rolling Average.................................. 219,219,620
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Therefore, for 2024, FGIS will assess a supervision tonnage fee of
$0.007 per ton 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
April 1, 2024. The Schedule B fee will be published in FGIS Directive
9180.74 and on the agency's public website.
7 CFR 800.71(d) Miscellaneous Fees for Other Services Calculations
Registration certificates and renewals. FGIS calculates the
application fee by multiplying 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 $73. Thus, the application fee for 2024 will be
$73 times 5, or $365. 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 costs for
publishing notices regarding the designation of official service
providers in the Federal Register. The Federal Register publication
rate is $151 per column, and the Schedule A non-contract hourly rate is
$73. FGIS calculates the fee will be $526 for calendar year 2024. The
fee will be published on the agency's public website after Federal
Register publication.
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 71-87k.
Melissa Bailey,
Associate Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-04838 Filed 3-6-24; 8:45 am]
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