A major source of funding for Graham Ccunty’s schools and emergency services is now set in stone for the next three years.
The $1 trillion infrastructure bill signed into law by President Joe Biden on Monday contains three years of support of Secure Rural Schools funding, which provides support for municipal services across 700 counties nationwide, focusing on counties with large amounts of federal land. The program began in 2000 and Graham County’s allotment makes up for revenue lost with the end of logging on local federal lands.
Approximately 80 percent of Graham County’s Secure Rural Schools Funding supports education, while the remaining 20 percent goes toward fire and rescue.
“When they stopped logging, they put that into place,” said Graham County Finance Officer Becky Garland. “The reason that is so important is that Congress has never made a permanent appropriation, and that every single county that’s affected has to go and basically beg Congress to pay what the promised that they were going to pay.
“Counties that have federal lands were promised to get payments in lieu of taxes and a percentage of the proceeds off timber. So, basically Congress – when they don’t make that a permanent appropriation – there’s a very real chance that counties won’t get all the revenue that they were promised.”
Garland said that for many years, her or Commissioner Connie Orr would have to travel to Washington D.C. to lobby for the Secure Rural Schools Funding.
Garland added that the funding usually brings approximately $145,000 to the county each year.
She said the program remained in the infrastructure package in large part due to the efforts of Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon.
“At least he was able to get us three more years,” Garland said. “At least we’re not having to go up there and fight every single year.”
However, Garland said the were some legislators from states where the Secure Rural Schools and Payments in Lieu of Taxes were not as important that had expressed an interest in cutting the programs.
“That’s not to say we won’t have to go back up there,” Garland noted.
She said that while Graham County is 74 percent federal land, some of the counties in the west that benefited as well were up to 90 percent federal lands.
“If they didn’t get the FRS and the PILT, they’d have basically nothing to tax,” Garland said. “The bulk of their budget is PILT and FRS money.”