Federal forest payments to counties lost in Congress

The Secure Rural Schools program was left out of the $1.1 trillion spending bill passed by Congress this week. The last-minute measure was designed to fund federal government operations through September 2015.

As a result, Montana counties could lose $20 million in federal funding for schools and roads — including $9.8 million for counties in Northwest Montana.

The program provides money to counties with Forest Service land. Thirty-three counties in Montana receive the funding. Two-thirds of the funding is used for county roads and the rest goes to schools.

Flathead County received $1.7 million this year through the program, Lincoln County received $4.8 million, Mineral County received $1.1 million, and Sanders County received $2.2 million.

Payments to the Northwest Montana counties have steadily declined — Flathead County received about $2.2 million in 2008.

The Secure Rural Schools payments are similar to federal payments in lieu of taxes. The PILT program subsidizes counties with large tracts of federal land that cannot be taxed but still require county roads and other local services.

The federal payments date to the decline of the logging industry 30 years ago and were intended to help local governments move to other sources of revenue as timber sales declined. Congress has renewed the programs by short-term and multi-year extensions.

Some lawmakers wanted to cut the Secure Rural Schools program, but it survived. Nationally, the program costs $330 million a year. Montana counties split $26 million in those payments last year.

Republican Rep. Steve Daines, who was elected to the Senate this fall, and Democratic Sen. Jon Tester said they supported the Secure Rural Schools program.

“I’m disappointed that an extension of Secure Rural Schools was not included in this package, and I remain committed to seeing that this important program is renewed in the coming months,” Daines said in a press release. “In addition to maintaining this critical support for Montana’s rural counties in the near future, we must continue to work toward a long-term solution that revitalizes Montana’s timber industry and provides Montana’s forest communities will a stable source of revenue for years to come.”

Tester said that under congressional rules, if the schools and roads money is restored, cuts would have to be made elsewhere to cover the difference.