GOLD BEACH – Curry County commissioners are not optimistic that timber payments will be approved even though $1 million in funds are listed in President Obama’s budget. And if the payments are approved, commissioners say that isn’t enough for Curry County to provide essential services.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., noted that funding for the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act – commonly known as “county payments” – is included as “mandatory” spending in President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget released Monday. 

“While getting county payments in the president’s budget doesn’t guarantee its extension, having the president recognize county payments as a mandatory spending program is a significant step in the right direction,” Wyden said.

County Commissioner David Itzen said that commissioners hope that provision eventually is approved.

“Sen. Wyden’s proposal would give us $1 million,” Itzen said. “That’s only one-third of what we need.”

In 2006, Curry County received $3.6 million in federal timber funds. That amount started to decrease in the following years. In 2010, the county received just over $1 million.

Itzen said if Obama approved $1 million, it would help.

“If we had that, we could go to the taxpayers and ask for less,” Itzen said.

“But even if it is in the budget, it would be too little, too late,” he said. “Then if you consider the political reality of it, a bipartisan approval is looking more unlikely than ever. I think we need to proceed with our plans.”

If that proposal is approved, nothing would float down to the county until the end of the year at the earliest.

The county, Itzen said, will not be saved by another one-time infusion of cash. Curry officials have said the county could be broke as early as next fall. 

He said the state recognizes Curry County’s problems, but they can’t give the county any money.

“Even the governor’s letter says we have to help ourselves,” he said. “You hope for the best, but you plan for the worst.”

He said the county must go ahead with something.

“I support a sales tax proposal on the May ballot,” Itzen said. “If the citizens choose not to, we can put something on the ballot in November.”

But the county must act if nothing is approved soon.

“We will be considering laying off 40-some people out of 78. That’s what it will take to balance the budget,” Itzen said. “The Citizens’ Committee suggested the sales tax. I think that suggestion is valid.”

He said the commissioners’ staff is working to put the sales tax on the May ballot.

“I think we can make that timetable,” he said.

But he said that even if the sales tax passes, the county couldn’t provide the funds Curry County needs for at lest a year, and maybe two.

Itzen said he testified before a state joint task force on county payments in a conference call last week.

The task force is continuing to work on legislative fixes that could help the rural counties. Two bills are expected to be introduced this week that could help.

The first proposed bill would let so-called timber counties dip into road funds to help pay for highway patrols. Currently, state law requires such funds to be used only for road infrastructure.

The second bill would ease restrictions on the use of funds from the Department of Revenue that help cover costs of assessing and collecting taxes. To receive such funding, counties must contribute a certain amount. The proposed legislation would allow qualifying counties to use the state’s money even if they failed to pony up much of their own.

Itzen said that the road fund legislation would allow Curry County to borrow money from the road fund to keep services going until other money, such as that from a voter-approved sales tax or property tax, was obtained.

“I’m suggesting support only to use that option as a loan, then pay back the loan with interest over time,” he said.

He said legislators seem to be interested in supporting using the road money as a bridge until the other money is available.

He said the other money would need to come from a sales or property tax or a combination of the two.

“The Citizens’ Committee came to the same conclusions as we commissioners,” he said.

Commissioner George Rhodes agreed that a small amount of money from Congress won’t help Curry County out of its revenue problems.

“It’s like giving a man in the desert dying of thirst a tablespoon of water,” he said. “We’ve got to solve a $3 million budget gap.”

He said that solution has to be realistic.

Rhodes said the federal government can help by putting people back to work. That would require adopting a management plan for the forests.

“Maybe the solution is having local management of that land,” he said.

“We have 100,000 acres of private timber in Curry County,” he said. “They seem to be doing the job and making a small amount of profit. We need to study what they’ve been doing.”

Rhodes said Curry County needs to come up with a plan for 20 years.

“It needs to be developed now,” he said. “It needs to be a living thing that can be changed.”