County finds way to keep project on schedule

A blasting project to improve safety at a tight corner on Kootenai River Road appears to be on schedule.

Marc McCully, Lincoln County’s Libby Road Crew foreman, said the priority project has been in the works for the past three years. But the work appeared for a time to be in jeopardy because of a dwindling budget that’s connected to income from the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act.

“As it is, we don’t have the money (in the roads budget),” Lincoln County Commissioner John Konzen said. “We will take money out of the bridge and road reserves. We have money in investments in callable notes.”

The corner in question features a rock wall with limited visibility and a sharp corner. McCully said the area is a “nightmare for school buses.”

The work would include a certain amount of blasting to remove dangers with falling rock. The overall pricetag is estimated to approach $90,000.

The county exercises caution when messing around with the investments that Konzen mentioned. Those reserves used to bring in more than $1 million in interest payments. The most recent estimate shows interest income of around $600,000 – and that’s money that goes into the county’s general fund and can be used for a wide variety of needs.

“That’s very valuable for taxpayers. We’d like to keep that bank account high,” Konzen said. “Marc made this request for public safety; it’s on a school bus route and there is a rock wall with safety issues.”

Commissioner Marianne Roose said the county will need to work closely with its investment adviser to make sure “we don’t take any bigger hits than we have to.”

“We’re going to have to be realistic about what’s coming out of Secure Rural Schools with our budget,” she said.

The Secure Rural Schools measure was formerly known as the 25-percent fund. Beginning in 1908, counties started to receive 25 percent of timber receipts from U.S. Forest Service lands to pay for county roads and schools. Following for the formation of the National Forest System, Congress realized that communities located in forest-heavy areas would be deprived of opportunities for economic development, which also impacted tax revenues.

The system continued for decades until timber receipts began to take heavy hits during the 1990s. As a result, payments going to counties saw dramatic decreases. In 2000, Congress passed the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act to give counties the option of receiving a share of the state payment instead of sticking to the old 25-percent formula.

Eighty percent of the state payment is earmarked for roads and schools. Of that amount, two-thirds goes to county roads and one-third to schools.

SRS payments are not based on current timber receipts but on those from the 1986-99 period. The 2000 measure expired in 2006 and the following year, Congress issued a one-year extension. Then in 2008, Congress reauthorized the act until 2011.

Because of income through SRS, Lincoln County has been able to survive as one of the few in the state with no roads tax, Konzen said.

“With roads, oil is the biggest component … it’s a quarter of the (roads) budget,” Konzen said. “Another large portion is the gravel. After that, you have labor, fuel, maintenance.”

McCully estimated that the road project would be done late spring or early summer. It appears probable that the blasting component of the work will need to go out to bid because it would exceed $50,000. The county is also talking to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about the possible widening of a narrow portion of the road.

Konzen said plans call for the roads crew to do a lot of the work. Lincoln County would be the general contractor with subcontractors to be hired for specific purposes.