Forest Service funds face 90 percent cut in Oregon counties

WASHINGTON – A Forest Service program that pumped millions of dollars into rural communities has expired and with it the advent of sharply reduced revenue sharing timber harvest payments for more than 700 counties and 4,000 school districts.

For Oregon, the reduction would be particularly severe, cutting the 2015 payment of $86.4 million to $7 million, a 91.9 percent reduction, according to an analysis by the National Association of Counties. Polk County would see payments almost completely dry up after a reduction from $782,406 to $318.

For Polk County residents, the loss of funds likely will mean a hike in property taxes. Residents approved an increase for public safety a year ago of up to 45 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, but the county has levied only 32 cents. Come November, the property tax bills will likely go up to about 40 cents per $1,000, said county administrative officer Greg Hansen.

That equates to an increase on a $200,000 home from about $64 to $80.

For Marion County, the reduction would be from $1.8 million to $186,880, an 89.8 percent reduction. About 25 percent of Marion County, and 26.4 percent of the state of Oregon, is Forest Service land.

The Secure Rural Schools program, enacted in 2000, was aimed at shoring up the financial wherewithal of communities and school districts in 41 states where timber harvests were in decline. Historically, those communities had relied on an early 20th century law guaranteeing 25 percent of timber revenues dedicated to local governments. But as federal environmental policies dramatically reduced logging in the 1990s, those local budgets were strained.

The money went to rural schools, roads and emergency response programs in 720 forested counties and also permitted improvements within Forest Service lands. Counties could be reimbursed for search and rescue costs on federal lands and funds could be used to establish wildfire plans.

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The law had provided gradually reduced payments since 2012 and was authorized a final time at $285 million in April 2015 and expired six months later. Payments to counties at the previous 25 percent level will start to be sent out in February, said Babete R. Anderson, the national press officer for the Forest Service.

“Without congressional reauthorization of the Secure Rural Schools Act, the Forest Service must revert to making payments to states under the 1908 act, commonly called ‘the 25 percent payments,’ for the 2017 payment year,” Anderson said in a prepared statement. “We are working through the steps required to process the 25 percent fund payments expeditiously and anticipate making those payments by the middle of February.”

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NACo is drumming up support for reauthorization and there appears to be some interest among Western legislators. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, was a co-author of the 2000 bill and is working with others to craft a solution.

“The fact that this program was not reauthorized is a travesty that I and others are attempting to rectify,” Wyden said. “I am working in a bipartisan fashion with colleagues like Senators (Mike) Crapo and (James) Risch (both Idaho Republicans) to get this lifeline for rural counties in Oregon and nationwide reinstated.

“As the co-author of this proven program, I know full well how important these payments are throughout the country to more than 700 counties, many of which are still recovering from the economic downturn,” he added. “I am also working to find new ways to create more good-paying Oregon jobs through sustainable forest management and opportunities."