Before the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) Act was introduced in 2000, rural counties and schools received 25% of the revenues generated from timber sales from national forests.
When approved in 2000, the law allowed counties with federal timber lands to choose between the 25 percent payment they once received from federal timber receipts or an average of what the county received between 1986 and 1999. Since most federal timber programs have been scaled way back, all but two of Montana’s counties opted for the SRS funding, including Ravalli County.
Congress has struggled before to reauthorize the act after it first expired in 2006. On October 2, 2013, Congress passed a one year reauthorization of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act as part of HR 527 Helium Stewardship Act.
The Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program then expired on September 30, 2014. The program was not reauthorized by Congress. Because the SRS Act has not been reauthorized, the 1908 Act requiring 25-percent payments now governs the distribution of payments to states.
This has reduced the payments to Ravalli County from $754,532.76 in 2014 to $15, 585.15 in 2015.
SRS funding received by Ravalli County goes to schools and roads. The county’s school districts get one third of the funding and the Road and Bridge Department gets two thirds.
SRS funds going to the County Road Improvement Fund from 2009 to 2015:
2009 – $1,068,291.22
2010 – $926,286.41
2011 – $885,822.89
2012 – $766,779.33
2013 – $768,318.58
2014 – $754,532.76
2015 – $15,585.15
From 2009 to 2015, the SRS Road Improvement Fund has earned $54,731.21 in interest and the current balance in the fund is $2,050,142.88.
Senator Jon Tester recently introduced bipartisan legislation to fully fund Secure Rural Schools (SRS) and Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT).
Tester’s bill reauthorizes SRS payments for three years at the level provided in 2011. Montana’s rural counties received nearly $23 million that year. Ravalli County received $885,822.89 that year.
The bill also establishes permanent, full funding of PILT, eliminating the volatility that county budgets face during the annual budget process with regard to that funding as well. PILT payments are made to 55 Montana counties with federal lands that are not taxable by local governments, but the lands’ presence creates demands for local government services like law enforcement and infrastructure. Congress provided nearly full funding of $405 million for the current fiscal year, but future funding for the program is not guaranteed.
According to Tester, the failure to reauthorize these initiatives caused counties to withdraw money from reserve accounts to pay for essential services, like infrastructure and education, and may force counties to lay off essential employees.
“Counties across Montana are taking a hit, because some in Congress don’t understand rural America,” said Tester. “My bill will make sure that Montana counties can provide the essential services that keep our local economies strong. PILT and SRS help ensure counties can continue to provide safe roads and bridges, law enforcement, and a quality education.”
Together, these initiatives contribute approximately $50 million every year to local Montana communities.
Senators Wyden (D-Ore.), Crapo (R-Idaho), Risch (R-Idaho), Merkley (D-Ore.), Udall (D-N.M.), Bennett (D-Colo.) and McCaskill (D-Mo.) are co-sponsors of the bill.
Mac McConnell says
Re-authoriation of the SRS is a stop-gap measure that will not solve the problems. The only permanent solution is to return rational management to our public lands. The U.S. Forest Service is now cutting only 7% of the annual growth.
The rest dies or adds to the density of the already over-croweded, fire and disease prone timber stands.