“Washington State University Beach Watchers”
Expenditures Description
April 10, 2009
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Below is
a break-down of $553,483 annual expenditures for the current WSU Beach
Watchers program (2008). The existing program
covers counties partnering with the Northwest Straits Commission. Those
counties are Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, Island, Jefferson, Clallam and San
Juan. The program is designed to coordinate with the Puget Sound
Partnership.
There are
850 volunteers in the Beach Watchers program that perform a broad variety of
tasks in the counties from advising boaters, monitoring shorelines and
waterways for government agencies, to teaching K-12 students. At a value of
about $20/hour, the WSU Beach Watcher volunteer effort last year was
equivalent to $845,000 of labor. WSU estimates there was about 41,725 hours
of service by our 850 trained volunteers.
Salaries and
Benefits................................................................................$424,137
Funding
in this category, which largely comes from federal grants to either WSU or
to individual counties, supports the following employees:
1)
A WSU Beach
Watcher program coordinator in every Northern Puget Sound county.
Coordinators lead and develop a volunteer
program in each participating county. Coordinator responsibilities include
setting up the training sessions each volunteer which requires 100 hours of
classroom experiences using 35-40 unpaid expert instructors from local
businesses, counties, universities and state agencies. A coordinator is a
full-time position in some counties and a part-time position in others.
Coordinators typically run 25-80 Beach Watcher “projects.” A typical project
is “Sound Waters: One Day University,” a full day of classes organized like
a conference that may be attended by hundreds of persons (600 participants
is common in Island County.) At such a conference, the shoreline property
owners and others in the community learn strategies for protecting the
shoreline or other coastal geology, preventing septic systems and garden
chemicals from polluting streams or coastal waters, nurturing and promoting
native plants, etc.
2)
WSU
extension faculty support in each county.
$60,000 is expended each year for this program to purchase the time of
extension county directors, who in some of the counties are the only other
program staff members that support volunteer efforts.
The funding is distributed around the counties, so funding is usually
well under $10,000 per year per county.
3)
One to four
part-time staff members in each county.
These staff members usually compile and maintain volunteer lists, answer
telephone call requests, and provide clerical and accounting support.
Other operating costs........................................................................
$97,567
Funding for this category is almost equally divided between federal grants
awarded to WSU and other grants awarded to the counties. The “other
operating costs” pay mileage and other travel expenses for program
coordinators, paper and printing for the program, small tools, postage, room
rentals, advertising, in-service training costs, distribution of periodic
county newsletters to volunteers, etc.
Overhead on WSU Grants..................................................................
$32,433
Some
overhead is collected on federal grants to WSU (F&A.) This is not a cost
identified with moving the program onto state funds.
Total annual expenses..........................................................................................
$553,484
For
a copy of WSU's 2009 Beach Watchers Budget Request, Click Here
For more information, contact Larry
Ganders, Assistant to the President, Washington State University,
360-280-6320. Or contact the Beach Watchers Web
Site:
http://www.beachwatchers.wsu.edu/regional/index.php
