County set to receive $2.4 million

Lincoln County’s budget is about to take a hit of more than two million dollars, but unlike most budget hits experienced by the county of late, this one is on the positive side of the ledger. Late Tuesday evening the U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly to reauthorize funding of the Secure Rural Schools program and to issue payments to the eligible counties within 45 days.

The final amount coming to each county has not yet been determined, but estimates indicate the payments for this year will be close to the amounts from last year. In 2014, Lincoln County received $2.744 million in Secure Rural Schools funding.

“While I don’t believe final payment amounts have been finalized, counties can expect to soon receive S.R.S. funding that is very close to their most recent payment, which collectively for Montana was $18.3 million,” said Alee Lockman, communications director for Sen. Steve Daines.

The Secure Rural Schools program was created by Congress in 2000 as an attempt to compensate rural counties for the loss of tax revenue created by heavy federal property ownership. It expired in 2006, but has been renewed each year since.

The funding was removed from a federal spending bill passed at the end of December 2014, causing concern for both local and federal officials.

Daines, then a member of the House of Representatives, joined 34 other members of the House in sending a letter to then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader John Boehner requesting immediate reconsideration of Secure Rural Schools funding in the new Congress.

“As you know, for more than 100 years, the Forest Service has shared 25 percent of timber revenues with rural counties to compensate them for federal ownership of lands, which cannot be taxed at the local level. Counties and school districts rely on these funds to help support critical services, including education and infrastructure projects. While timber harvest levels have dropped over the last two decades, Congress has recognized the need to live up to its obligations and continue to support these districts… We urge you to work quickly, in a bipartisan fashion, to reauthorize, fund and make payments under SRS as early as possible in the next Congress ensuring that local governments across the country can access these essential funds,” the letter read.

The funding, buried inside a much larger Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, passed the House by an overwhelming 392-37 bipartisan vote March 26. Montana’s lone member of the House, Rep. Ryan Zinke, voted in support of the measure.

The Senate announced they would consider the legislation after the Easter Break, from which they reconvened April 13. The measure went to the floor late in the afternoon of April 14.

Both Montana senators, Sen. Daines and Sen. Jon Tester, voted in favor of the bill, which carried similar bipartisan support in the Senate and ultimately passed, 92.-8. Tester had introduced separate legislation earlier this year to fully fund the program.

“Secure Rural Schools is critical for Lincoln County and rural Montana,” Tester said. “It helps pay for things that directly impact our economy: public schools and roads. While we work to get folks in our forested counties back to work in the woods, S.R.S. helps keep county budgets from falling into the red and forcing cuts to services that affect our kids and grandkids.”

Daines echoed a similar sentiment.

“The extension of Secure Rural Schools Program will provide much needed economic security and stability to Montana’s forest communities — including Lincoln County,” he said. “It’s vital that the federal government fulfill its long-standing commitment to Lincoln County, which has been severely impacted by declining timber harvests. I’m proud that I was able to cast my vote to reauthorize this important program and I will continue working to find solutions that reinvigorate our state’s timber economy, increase harvests on all ten Montana National Forests and create more good paying jobs.”

Lincoln County commissioners praised the extension of the program, while reiterating the need for long-term solutions to eliminate the need for the short-term assistance.

“We are very pleased that Secure Rural Schools funding was passed for the next two years, which will mean an estimated 2.7 million dollars of federal funding each year coming to Lincoln County,” Commissioner Greg Larson said. “We sincerely appreciate the bipartisan effort of our Congressional delegation to make this a reality. This is important, as it will allow us to continue to support our county road system at current service levels. It will also help restore some of the reserve funds we had anticipated spending this year.

“This is great news to help meet our short-term funding needs but our true hope is that during these two years, while we have this stop-gap funding, Congress will be able to implement the long-term solutions needed that will provide future sustainable sources of revenue that will provide the quality family jobs with benefits badly needed in Lincoln County. This will also lead to much improved forest management on the Kootenai and a reduction in catastrophic fire potential. We are hopeful that long-term solutions, when realized, will also lead to natural resource extraction from the Kootenai National Forest to include the Rock Creek and Montonore mines.”

Commissioner Mark Peck also spoke to the need for longer-term measures.

“It is very good news for the short term but fails to address our long term issues of forest productivity, forest health, family jobs and predictable funding for local government. I do appreciate the support of our Congressional delegation and look forward to working with them to restore commonsense management to our national forests,” he said.

The total amount received by Lincoln County will be offset by approximately $300,000, which the county received as a share of timber receipts from the Forest Service, leaving a net influx of roughly $2.4 million into county coffers for the coming year.