558 N. Main St., Prineville, OR 97754 | (541) 447-6205
Crook County, as well as the rest of the rural Western United States is unsure if there will be county timber payments in the future.
With the federal government owning much of the land in the Western United States, rural counties historically relied on revenue generated by the sale of timber on federal land. A portion of proceeds from timber sales was returned to the counties to help fund road construction, and maintenance, as well as funds for forest projects and some funding for schools.
With the demise of the timber industry, these funds disappeared. However, the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act helped pick up the slack.
The act has expired and there is doubt that it will be renewed. Crook County was the beneficiary of $1.7 million for road department funds, $570,000 to the school district and $188,000 in discretionary Title 3 funding.
With the possibility that rural counties will no longer receive federal funding, Oregon Co-Speaker of the House of Representatives Bruce Hanna (R - Roseburg), and Oregon Representative Mike McLane (R - Powell Butte) hosted a round-table discussion Friday with Crook and Deschutes County officials.
Although it is great that state and county officials are meeting together to discuss the problem, the reality is that we are living in different times.
Regardless of whether or not the federal government has a responsibility to assist rural western counties, the reality is that those funds are unlikely to be restored any time soon.
Even if timber regulations were relaxed in the near future, there are no full-time sawmills remaining in Crook County and it would take years for those jobs to ever return. Let’s face it — as much as Crook County would like to see the timber industry and the jobs that come with it return, that probably isn’t going to happen.
State government needs to decide what, if anything, they are going to do to help rural counties, and the counties need to either come up with new funding streams or find a way to live within their means.
For a county the size of Crook County, losing $1.7 million in revenue would be devastating. Instead of hoping that the funding will be restored or wishing that somehow, someway the timber industry will return, Crook County Commissioners need to recognize the new reality and start tightening their belts now. The money probably isn’t coming. The time to talk about the problem is over. It’s time for commissioners to start making the tough decisions necessary to keep the county solvent. It won’t be easy, but the longer we hold discussions and postpone the decision-making, the deeper the cuts are going to be.
