By: Chris Marklund, Austin Igleheart | NACo

September 30, 2016

Original source

On September 16, 2016, Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.), along with a bipartisan group of 29 senators, sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) urging the reauthorization of the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program before the end of the year.  On September 22, a similar letter, led by Reps. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), Scott Tipton (R-Colo.) and Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) and signed by 52 House members, was sent to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) calling on Congress to reauthorize the critical safety-net program for forest counties across the country.

On September 22, 2016, Sens. Mike Crapo (R- Idaho) and Michael Bennet (D- Colo.) sent a letter, signed by 37 senators, to Senate leadership urging Congress to work together to enact a fiscally responsible, long-term and sustainable solution to fully fund the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program in FY 2017 and beyond.  Reps. Chris Stewart (R- Utah) and Jared Polis (D- Colo.) sent a similar letter signed by nearly 100 House members on September 26.

County representatives from across the nation worked on Capitol Hill and in their home counties as a part of the 2016 NACo Western Interstate Region PILT Fly-In and Grassroots Advocacy Day in support of the PILT and SRS congressional letters. Please thank your Senators and Representatives if they signaled their support for PILT and SRS by signing on to these letters.

Why does Secure Rural Schools matter to counties?

The SRS program, which expired on September 30, 2015, provides support for local education and critical county services to more than 720 counties and nine million students.  Historically, rural communities and schools have relied on a share of federal receipts from timber harvests to supplement local funding for education services and roads. During the 1980s, however, national policies substantially diminished the revenue-generating activity permitted in federal forests. The resulting steep decline in timber sales decreased the revenues that rural counties and school districts received from forest management activities.

In response to this decline, SRS was enacted in 2000 (P.L. 106-393) to stabilize payments to counties and to compensate for lost revenues. In October 2008, SRS was reauthorized (P.L. 110-343) and amended to continue on a sliding payment scale.  SRS was again reauthorized for FY 2013 (P.L. 113-40) and expired on September 30, 2013. On April 16, 2015, SRS was reauthorized retroactively (P.L. 114-10) for FY 2014 and 2015. For FY 2015, SRS provided $272 million to more than 700 rural counties, parishes and boroughs across the nation.

In March of 2016, forest counties across the U.S. received their last authorized SRS payments.  SRS payments support public schools, public roads, forest health projects, essential search and rescue and emergency services and many other county projects.  If SRS is not reauthorized, essential county programs and services could be severely cut or even cancelled.

When the authorization for SRS lapsed in FY 2014, forest payments to counties across the United States dropped by more than 80 percent.  As a result, counties and school districts faced dramatic budgetary shortfalls and many began preparations to delay or halt road projects, terminate employees and reduce local services.

NACo urges counties to thank Sens. Crapo and Tester and Reps. Gosar, DeFazio, Tipton and Huffman and all the SRS champions in the Senate and House who joined together in sending these important letters.  NACo will continue to advocate for a long-term reauthorization of the Secure Rural Schools program to ensure forest counties have the resources they need to provide critical local transportation and education services.

Why do Payments in Lieu of Taxes matter to counties?

The PILT program was created in 1976 to offset costs incurred by counties for services provided to federal employees and families, the public and users of public lands. These include education, solid waste disposal, law enforcement, search and rescue, health care, environmental compliance, firefighting, parks and recreation and other important community services.  Because local governments are unable to levy taxes on the property values or products derived from federal lands, PILT payments are necessary to support essential government services (mandated by law) in over 1,850 counties in 49 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The House and Senate PILT letters note that counties across the nation count on the certainty and full funding of the PILT program to balance their own local budgets, and urge Congress to act quickly to reaffirm the federal government’s long standing commitment to public lands counties.

For FY 2016, PILT was fully funded with $452 million in appropriations provided by Congress in the FY 2016 Omnibus Appropriations Act (P.L. 114-113).  However, FY 2016 PILT funds were distributed to counties in the summer of 2016 and FY 2016 federal appropriations will expire after September 30, 2016.  For FY 2017, the Department of the Interior has estimated that $480 million will be necessary to fully fund PILT.

To date, both the U.S. Senate and House Appropriations Committees have passed FY 2017 funding legislation that includes full funding for PILT at $480 million.  However, the two chambers must still come together to resolve remaining differences and pass a final product before a bill can be signed into law.

NACo applauds Sens. Crapo and Bennet, Reps. Stewart and Polis and all of the Senate and House PILT champions for their continued support of the PILT program.  NACo also appreciates the hard work of Senate and House appropriators in putting forward legislation that would fully fund PILT in FY 2017.  We encourage both chambers to work together in a bipartisan, bicameral fashion to enact FY 2017 funding legislation that fully funds PILT before the end of the year.

Additional Resources:

Contact: Chris Marklund at cmarklund@naco.org or 202.942.4207

Chris Marklund is NACo’s Associate Legislative Director for Public Lands. He is also the Western Interstate Region Liaison.