From the Board of LC Commissioners

Commissioners Rita Windom, John Konzen and Marianne Roose

During the past year, our Congressional delegation has worked hard in their efforts to get their colleagues in Congress to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, which provides for payments to counties that have traditionally depended on 25 percent of federal forest revenues to stabilize their funding of schools and transportation infrastructure.

Unfortunately, though passed by the House of Representatives, the Senate failed by one vote to move this important legislation forward before they adjourned for their winter break. We are now beseeching our Senators, particularly Sen. Baucus in his leadership role, to leave no stone unturned in a redoubled effort to reauthorize this vitally important piece of legislation this year.

Failure to reauthorize, and a subsequent return to the "25 percent of receipts" formula would reduce Lincoln County's revenue by close to $3 million annually. Additionally, there would be a loss of revenue to the schools (some State funding, some local funding) of close to $1.5 million. Although the local school boards have the authority to permissively increase tax levies to make their loss up, such an increase would be absolutely prohibitive to our taxpayers in Lincoln County. As well, in a county where the federal government owns most of the land, there is no way to back-fill such a huge loss to the road fund with local taxes, which would require doubling of our current property tax bills.

Not only would failure to reauthorize be an unconscionable tax-shift from federal to local, it would also be breaking the original compact between federal and local government whereby Congress initially recognized that, by retaining vast tracts of land in federal ownership rather than allowing them to become part of the local tax base, they must necessarily help fund adjacent public infrastructure just as any other landowner must.

Our Senators from Montana are well aware of this obligation, and their support is not questioned. We are deeply appreciative of that support. They must now re-affirm this issue as a top priority for 2008. As chair of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, Baucus can play the key role in finding the solution to reauthorization. We strongly urge Sen. Baucus to use his considerable influence and leadership to insert the reauthorization of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Act into any appropriate legislative package, including the Farm Bill, moving through Congress.