Jackson County could receive $60 million in timber funds

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Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Speaker of the House of Representatives, signs the resolution for the financial bailout package after the House approved it Friday. President Bushsigned it into law later in the day.AP

October 04, 2008

By Sanne Specht

Mail Tribune

The financial rescue plan signed Friday by President Bush allowed officials across Southern Oregon counties to breathe a cautious sigh of relief because the law extends federal timber payments to counties for four more years.

Oregon will receive the largest share of payments — about $254 million in the current budget year — followed by California ($63 million) Washington ($43 million), Idaho ($43 million) and Montana ($32 million).

Jackson County Commissioner C. W. Smith said $50 million to $60 million is the rough estimate of how much money the county will receive over the next four years. Smith said the money will continue to put Jackson County on a firm financial footing and will help other counties in Southern Oregon that faced the prospect of drastic cutbacks in road maintenance, law enforcement and other services.

"If all goes well, and I believe it will, our financial position for the county and its residents will be very good," Smith said.

Senators inserted the timber provision, a program that pays rural counties hurt by federal logging cutbacks, as one of several sweeteners to attract more votes for the bill, which the House approved on Friday, two days after the Senate.

The law, officially titled the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, is commonly known as "county payments." It provides hundreds of millions of dollars to Oregon, Idaho and other states, mostly in the West, that once depended on federal timber sales to pay for schools, libraries and other services in rural areas.

In all, payments go to 700 counties in 39 states.

Josephine County Commissioner Dave Toler took a more reserved view.

The money will provide a "bridge to the future," Toler said, but the public must understand the amount that counties will receive is less than in former years, and the payment will decrease each year.

"Calling it a four-year subsidy is really kind of inaccurate," Toler said. "This is a serious ramp down. It goes from 90 percent in the first year to 40 percent in the last year to zero."

In Jackson County, the payments will go into a cash reserve, and the county is scheduling a meeting of the budget committee in December that will lead to discussions about the best way to handle the money, Smith said.

"We are very, very stable," said Smith. "This money will put us in a solid financial for many years to come."

Toler said Josephine County residents should not see the short-term subsidies as a permanent funding solution to the county's public safety woes.

"This is a four-year phase out. Emphasis on the over and out," said Toler.

Josephine County was about to lose its public safety funding unless voters approved a law enforcement levy on the November ballot. If voters approve the levy, it could be used together with the subsidies to help residents get back something they haven't had in a long time, he said.

"We could use it to fund a full-fledged sheriffs office," Toler said. "We could have no levy taxes for year one, and phase in the full tax over the next four years."

Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters said he wanted to see the federal check in place before he celebrated.

"We've been on a roller coaster for a long time about this money," Winters said.

Winters praised Jackson County leadership for being proactive in the face of the subsidy's initial cut off.

"We saw it coming and downsized," he said.

"Under (County Administrator) Danny Jordan and the current commissioners' leadership, we have done incredible things. We can put this money in reserves and still get things done," Winters said, adding his department might seek some of the incoming funding for capital improvements.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who co-sponsored the original timber payments law in 2000 and played a key role in its renewal, hailed the program's extension, which came after a series of votes in the House and Senate that alternately passed and rejected the program.

Wyden voted against the bailout bill but asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to include the timber provision, which also was backed by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and a host of Western lawmakers.

Reach reporter Sanne Specht at 776-4497 or e-mail sspecht@mailtribune.com. Mail Tribune reporter Damian Mann and the Associated Press contributed to this story.

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