QuickTake:

Lane County budget staff say questions remain around the legislation and it’s still unclear what it means for the county’s bottom line. County Commissioner David Loveall, though, says it will have the long-term benefits.

Lane County may get more money from timber receipts in the next fiscal year now that Congress has passed an appropriations bill for the Department of Interior. 

The federal appropriation, which passed the House and Senate in January, could be a boost to Lane County, where officials are facing a $3 million structural deficit in the next fiscal year, which starts July 1. But county officials say they need more information.

At issue are the so-called Oregon and California Railroad Revested Lands (commonly referred to as O&C lands) — which amount to about 2.6 million acres in 18 western Oregon counties. Of that, 375,000 acres are in Lane County.

Most O&C land is administered by the federal Bureau of Land Management, and the federal government gives the counties a portion of the timber revenue from those lands.

The federal appropriation approved by Congress in January increased the share of timber revenue going to the counties to 75%.

Lane County staffers are still evaluating what that change will mean for the county’s budget options going forward, saying the federal policy around timber receipts includes complicated and unanswered questions.

Christine Moody, the county’s budget and financial planning manager, said Lane County has reached out to the BLM and the O&C Counties Association, which includes Lane County. She said the questions are more complex than simply finding out how much money the county may be eligible to receive.

One of the unresolved issues is that the county historically has chosen between receiving either the timber receipts or federal Secure Rural Schools funding. Usually, the Secure Rural Schools funding represents more money.

In 2000, Congress initially put a Secure Rural Schools funding guarantee in place to help counties with vast swaths of federal land.

Moody said the county also needs to know if it can opt out of a year of the Secure Rural Schools funding, which is in a three-year renewal cycle. The Secure Rural Schools program is designed to funnel money to states that have experienced declines in timber revenue from federal land.

What’s more, the county needs to understand the new formula for O&C counties and how that would work, Moody said. 

“We need to know exactly how the formula is going to be calculated,” Moody said in an interview. “And the last we heard was even the feds are working on these calculations.”

The Secure Rural Schools funding is estimated to be about $9.68 million annually without any changes. That would include $5.4 million for a road fund, nearly $3.5 million for general fund purposes and about $870,000 for patrol services.

“Can we opt out for one year?” Moody said. “That’s our question, right? We don’t know that yet, and then what is the formula for us to do the math?”

Regardless of the answers, Moody said, county management appreciates the work of the federal delegation on the timber revenue situation.

“We would love to see some change that’s a long-term positive for Lane County,” Moody said. “But we’re just still getting information.”

Loveall touts success 

Lane County Commissioner David Loveall said the passage of the appropriations bill represents a significant accomplishment and comes after extensive lobbying and advocacy through the Association of O&C Counties.

“The value of our timber and the great people who are in this industry continue to steward an environmentally responsible and sustainable forest for all to enjoy and for the proceeds of responsible management to work for our county,” Loveall said in a statement. “This is a big win for all Lane County, including helping our budget concerns, a win for family-wage jobs, advances in wood technology and for us to become once again, the suppliers of material for housing, and economic growth for generations to come.”

Loveall praised Oregon’s delegation for its work.

“We tried to lock a lot of things into the bill,” U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said about the appropriations bill in a recent press conference with reporters in Springfield before a town hall.

Loveall said it gives the county an opportunity to generate more revenue. Along with other Lane County officials, Loveall has consistently pointed to the county’s downturn in timber revenue for decades, which is part of the reason why the county’s property tax rates are relatively low: During times when timber revenues were higher, the county was able to keep property tax rates low.

That’s a big issue now, because laws limit how much the county can increase the assessments that determine tax revenues.

“This is a revenue-generating source from the lands that we have to draw revenue from,” Loveall said, noting that the federal government doesn’t pay property taxes on its land. “This is the only real revenue source that we can get from the federal government of lands that we have within our jurisdictions.”

Loveall said the Secure Rural Schools funding is not reliable as a long-term source of money. The program has long been supported by lawmakers such as Merkley and U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden. But if congressional support for the program erodes, renewing it could prove increasingly difficult.

Adjusted for inflation, Secure Rural Schools funding has dropped from slightly above $60 million in 2001 to less than $10 million — a drop of about 86%.

“I’m probably getting in trouble for saying this, but I don’t care,” Loveall said. “But I can’t see [Secure Rural Schools] lasting more than another cycle. As soon as Wyden gets out of office, or Merkley or any of these old-timers like that, that thing’s going to go away faster than, you know, a pop on a bubble gum space.”

Ben Botkin covers politics and policy in Lane County. He has worked as a journalist since 2003, most recently at the Oregon Capital Chronicle, where he covered justice, health and human services and documented regional efforts to combat fentanyl addiction. Botkin has worked in statehouses in Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma and, of course, Oregon. When he's not working, you'll find him road tripping across the West, hiking or surfing along the Oregon Coast.