Oregon's strapped rural counties could get millions of federal dollars soon

The Oregonian
By Helen Fessenden
January 24, 2014

Progress on a long-stalled farm bill in Congress means that Oregon may soon get millions of dollars to help counties cover the costs of public services on federally owned land.

The program reimburses counties for law enforcement, social services, transportation and other costs on federal lands, which do not pay property taxes. Most of the money goes to rural counties in western states.

"I'd like to see this fully funded," said U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore. "This is the property tax bill for the federal government."

The money would be particularly welcome in Oregon, where some counties have cut law enforcement and other basic services for lack of tax dollars. The amount the state would get isn't clear yet, but Oregon, with 31 million acres of federal land, got $15.6 million through the Payment In Lieu of Taxes program in fiscal 2013.

The money is separate from federal timber payments, another form of relief for states with significant federal lands.

The so-called PILT money lapsed last year after normally being renewed automatically. Western lawmakers had hoped to attach it to the $1.1 trillion spending bill that President Obama signed Jan. 17.

Now it could come through as part of the multi-year farm bill, which has been bogged down for months in disagreements over food stamps and dairy price support but that looks likely to be taken up before the end of the month.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., told reporters last week that the PILT money could be included. Walden, also last week, said he heard the same thing from House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and other House leaders.

Because Nevada gets a big chunk of PILT money, Walden added, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is expected to push for the funding in the Senate as well.

Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said in an interview this week that senior Democrats on the House Agriculture Committee told him the farm bill would include enough money for a one-year PILT extension.

But he cautioned there's no official word yet. "I think the farm bill negotiators will get the last of the tough issues worked out, like dairy price support, and we'll finally have a farm bill," said DeFazio. "But if that doesn't happen, it's going to be much harder to reauthorize PILT."

Congress reauthorized the county timber payments program, meanwhile, in September, with about $100 million tagged for Oregon. DeFazio said he expects those payments to start in March.

He and other lawmakers have called for a longer-term solution than annual extensions, however. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who chairs the Senate Energy and National Resources Committee and will soon take over the Finance Committee, said in a statement that he'll "be looking for every opportunity" to extend timber payments.

"These extensions are critical to buy time for a long-term solution that gets counties off of the roller coaster of annual extensions," he said.