Crapo working to secure rural funding
Idaho Republican Senator Mike Crapo and Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden have introduced legislation to protect funding for the Secure Rural Schools program.
Part of the Forest Management for Rural Stability Act (RSA), the program expired at the end of Fiscal Year 2018, undercutting financial security for rural county schools, road maintenance, law enforcement and other essential services.
“The Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program has become vital in budgeting for essential services in Idaho’s forested counties with large tracts of tax-exempt federal lands,” said Crapo. “This endowment will stabilize the program for generations and maintain the important link between economic growth and forest management in our forested counties, while ending the perpetual temporary band-aids that create instability and uncertainty.”
It was originally introduced by Wyden in 2000 to help protect counties impacted by large amounts of public, but tax-exempt forest land. Services in those areas were traditionally funded by a share of timber sale revenues. Those receipts began to shrink due to reduced timber harvest and market forces.
In recent years, though, Congress allowed the SRS funding to lapse and decrease, and that put increasing financial pressure on rural counties.
In Idaho, Custer County Commissioner and Idaho Association of Counties Public Lands Committee Chairman Wayne Butts said, “93% of land in Custer County is under federal managed and exempt from property taxation. Counties and schools like ours can’t operate without federal forest payments.”
“I appreciate the efforts of both Senator Crapo and Senator Wyden to provide increased certainty to counties that rely on Secure Rural Schools funding,” said Idaho Forest Group Chairman and CEO Marc Brinkmeyer. “In addition to providing stability to county payments, the bill recognizes the need to maintain a link to active forest management, which is critical to providing both economic and ecologic vitality to rural communities in the West.”
You can see a one-page summary of the proposed legislation here.
Crapo predicted the measure would eventually enlist strong, bipartisan support. After introducing the bill Thursday, Crapo said he and Wyden would advance and refine the proposal.
