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HomeMy WebLinkAbout061719_ca02Department of Public Works O Consent Agenda Page 1 of 1 Jefferson County Board of Commissioners Agenda Request To: Board of Commissioners Philip Morley, County Administrator From: Monte Reinders, PE, Public Works Director/County Engineer Agenda Date: June 17, 2019 Subject: Letter of Support for Federal Forest Management for Rural Stability Act, FFY2019 Statement of Issue: Request for legislative support to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools and Self Determination Act (SRS) through a bill called the Forest Management for Rural Stability Act. Analysis/Strategic Goals/Pro's Et Con's: The funding decline and financial uncertainty of the SRS Act has negatively impacted Jefferson County Public Works ability to maintain roads including those leading to federal lands. The attached letter requests our state legislature to support reintroduction of a bill to the 116th Congress to create a SRS endowment that would ensure a stable long-term payment mechanism to forested rural counties which are not subject to the annual appropriation process. Letters have been prepared for Board of County Commissioners' signature to members of Congress. Synopsis information about the proposed bill is attached. Fiscal Impact/Cost Benefit Analysis: As one of the historically largest industries in Jefferson County, federal timber has played a significant role in the construction and maintenance of county roadways for decades. Until the year 2008, SRS once accounted for $1.3 million in annual revenue or nearly 25% of the Roads operating budget and was equal to the amount received from the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax. In recent years, due to a failure to reauthorize this legislation except in a stop gap fashion, this program has provided between $0 and $400,000 annually. As a result, there have been significant reductions in road maintenance and preservation activities. Although it is unlikely that pre -2008 funding levels will ever return, it is essential that legislation be enacted to create a permanent and stable revenue source that the County can depend upon. Recommendation: Authorize the Board of County Commissioners by consent agenda to sign three individual Letters to Honorable Patty Murray, Maria Cantwell, and Derek Kilmer to support the Federal Forest Management for Rural Stability Act in this year's congressional session. Return signature pages to Public Works for completion of transmittal and follow-up. Department Contact: Wendy A. Clark-Getzin, PE, Transportation Planner, 360-385-9162 Forest Management for Rural Stability Act May 2019 Rural communities where the federal government owns most of the land have been strapped into the front seat of a financial roller coaster. For more than 100 years, counties with public forestlands received federal support, but faced the ups and downs of fluctuating and uncertain payments. Most recently, federal support has come through the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self -Determination Act (SRS), originally enacted in 2000. SRS has provided more than $6 billion for essential county services, schools, and roads. However, SRS expires at the end of FY2018 and, with little chance of another reauthorization, counties' abilities to support good schools, safe roads and other essential services is again plunged into uncertainty. It is time to provide much-needed certainty to the rural counties supporting our public lands. The Forest Management for Rural Stability Act ends the financial rollercoaster by creating a permanent endowment fund of stable, increasing and reliable funding for county services, separate from annual appropriations. Highlights • Along with an initial, one-time congressional appropriation to seed the new endowment fund (Fund), annual commercial receipts generated on Forest Service, National Wildlife Refuge Revenue Sharing (RRS), and Oregon and California (O&C) lands (managed by the Bureau of Land Management) will be deposited annually into the Fund. Receipts from each will be held in separate accounts within the Fund. • As timber harvests on federal lands grow, funding to counties will also grow. Funds earned off the interest from the endowment's investments will finance payments to the counties. • Payments to counties will have a baseline of no less than FY2017 SRS and RRS funding levels, and are distributed to counties using the SRS formula (with 85% of payments for Title I and 15% for Title III) and RRS formula. • SRS Title I payments to Forest Service counties are used for roads and schools, and the Act expands the authorized uses of Title III, giving counties greater flexibility in using Title III payments. • Payments to counties will continue to grow each year until payments from the fund equal the highest total SRS and RSS payment. At that point, counties will get both a stable base payment from the fund AND will receive traditional timber harvest receipts. • Congress will charter a new non-profit corporation to manage the Fund. The corporation is independent from the U.S. Government to ensure the Fund is held in perpetuity and best serves the financial interest of the local governments receiving the payments. • This Act guarantees counties a minimum payment while the Fund grows from its initial one-time seed appropriation. If at any time available earnings fall short of the payments required for that year, the shortfall will be made up from the Treasury. ohi Cotes 4�SON cOGjO June 17, 2019 Board of County Commissioners 1820 Jefferson Street PO Box 1220 Port Townsend, WA 98368 Kate Dean, District 1 David Sullivan, District 2 Greg Brotherton, District 3 The Honorable Derek Kilmer United States House of Representatives 1410 Longworth House Office Bldg. Washington, DC 20515 Dear Representative Kilmer, We are writing to thank you for your ongoing support of the Secure Rural Schools and Self - Determination Act (SRS) and urge your continued leadership on this important matter. The recent introduction of S.1643, the Forest Management for Rural Stability Act of 2019, by bipartisan Senators Wyden, Crapo, Merkley, and Risch offers to bring much needed long-term financial stability to timber dependent counties like ours. The latest extension of the SRS Act expired in FY2018 and faces a challenging path to what would likely be only another short-term reauthorization. While we are grateful for these past reauthorizations, the uncertainty surrounding them over the last few years has resulted in corresponding financial uncertainty for our rural county with its limited and insufficient sources of revenue to provide basic services. For these reasons we urge you to support the reintroduction of the Forest Management for Rural Stability Act during the 116th Congress. Since its inception, the SRS program has been critical to Jefferson County's ability to provide basic services to our constituents. Until 2008, Jefferson County received about $1.3 million per year for roads maintenance and construction purposes, while an additional $1.3 million went to schools from Jefferson County's SRS allocation. To put this in perspective, that level of funding is equal to what the County receives in annual motor vehicle fuel tax allocations. In fact, the SRS payment represented about 25% of our regular operating budget for county roads. Unfortunately, in subsequent years the SRS payment decreased to less than $400,000 per year under this program, and the last payment the County received was for FY2018. In FFY2016, Jefferson County receive no SRS payment and received instead a share of federal timber receipts that totaled only $76,000. To deal with the dramatic cutback, the County has continued to defer maintenance on pavements, bridges, and culverts, including replacement of fish barriers, and has eliminated jobs that went along with this work. While reduced funding levels present significant challenges, not having the SRS program or the Forest Management for Rural Stability Act at all is simply unsustainable. Jefferson County will face dramatic budgetary shortfalls that will require us to forego even the most basic maintenance and repairs to avoid bankruptcy. Phone (360) 385-9100 Fax (360) 385-9382 jeffbocc@co.jefferson.wa.us The events of recent winters demonstrate the predicament we are in. Jefferson County continues to suffer repeated damage from storms in our region. As you can see from the attached photos a number or our roads have suffered significant damage. Coincidentally, every one of these roads is also a "Federal lands access" road meaning they provide direct access to Federal resource and recreation lands including Olympic National Park, the famed Hoh River Rainforest, and Olympic National Forest. These roads are also "sole access" roads meaning there is no other way in or out when they fail, and so they require immediate repairs in order to maintain access. These roads were originally constructed primarily with timber dollars, and in recent years SRS funding has provided much of the financial resource to maintain them and respond to these types of disaster events, which unfortunately are not all that uncommon in our county. With assistance from your office, Jefferson County ultimately received reimbursement for repair of some of these damaged sites through sources including FEMA and the FHWA Emergency Relief programs; however, the availability of funding through these programs is only known months after the event occurs with no guarantee at the time of the event that any assistance will be available. With budgets strained to the breaking point, there is no assurance that the County will have the financial resources in the future to respond to these events without a predictable and fully funded program such as the Forest Management for Rural Stability Act. We applaud your attention to natural resources and infrastructure issues critical to Jefferson County and across our great state and look forward to working with you and your staff going forward. We ask that you join in supporting the reintroduction of the Forest Management for Rural Stability Act in the 116th Congress. Please do not hesitate to contact our office if you have any additional questions. Sincerely, Kate Dean Jefferson County Commissioner, District 1 David Sullivan Jefferson County Commissioner, District 2 Greg Brotherton Jefferson County Commissioner, District 3 2 i7gA Damage to the Upper Hoh Road MP 8.0, November 2017 ($400,000 and counting) Damage to Undi Road (Landslide), 2016 ($1,750,000) 3 Oil City Road MP 8.8, November 2015 ($425,000) Quinault South Shore Road, December 2014 ($800,000) r7k P- Dosewallips Road, December 2014 ($175,000) Upper Hoh Road MP 9.7, December 2016 ($250,000 and counting) 5 C0 O SON c0�10 IT 41 �NING�� June 17, 2019 Board of County Commissioners 1820 Jefferson Street PO Box 1220 Port Townsend, WA 98368 Kate Dean, District 1 David Sullivan, District 2 Greg Brotherton, District 3 The Honorable Maria Cantwell United States Senate 511 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Senator Cantwell, We are writing to thank you for your ongoing support of the Secure Rural Schools and Self - Determination Act (SRS) and urge your continued leadership on this important matter. The recent introduction of S.1643, the Forest Management for Rural Stability Act of 2019, by bipartisan Senators Wyden, Crapo, Merkley, and Risch offers to bring much needed long-term financial stability to timber dependent counties like ours. The latest extension of the SRS Act expired in FY2018 and faces a challenging path to what would likely be only another short-term reauthorization. While we are grateful for these past reauthorizations, the uncertainty surrounding them over the last few years has resulted in corresponding financial uncertainty for our rural county with its limited and insufficient sources of revenue to provide basic services. For these reasons we urge you to support the reintroduction of the Forest Management for Rural Stability Act during the 116th Congress. Since its inception, the SRS program has been critical to Jefferson County's ability to provide basic services to our constituents. Until 2008, Jefferson County received about $1.3 million per year for roads maintenance and construction purposes, while an additional $1.3 million went to schools from Jefferson County's SRS allocation. To put this in perspective, that level of funding is equal to what the County receives in annual motor vehicle fuel tax allocations. In fact, the SRS payment represented about 25% of our regular operating budget for county roads. Unfortunately, in subsequent years the SRS payment decreased to less than $400,000 per year under this program, and the last payment the County received was for FY2018. In FFY2016, Jefferson County receive no SRS payment and received instead a share of federal timber receipts that totaled only $76,000. To deal with the dramatic cutback, the County has continued to defer maintenance on pavements, bridges, and culverts, including replacement of fish barriers, and has eliminated jobs that went along with this work. While reduced funding levels present significant challenges, not having the SRS program or the Forest Management for Rural Stability Act at all is simply unsustainable. Jefferson County will face dramatic budgetary shortfalls that will require us to forego even the most basic maintenance and repairs to avoid bankruptcy. Phone (360) 385-9100 Fax (360) 385-9382 jeffbocc@co.jefferson.wa.us The events of recent winters demonstrate the predicament we are in. Jefferson County continues to suffer repeated damage from storms in our region. As you can see from the attached photos a number or our roads have suffered significant damage. Coincidentally, every one of these roads is also a "Federal lands access" road meaning they provide direct access to Federal resource and recreation lands including Olympic National Park, the famed Hoh River Rainforest, and Olympic National Forest. These roads are also "sole access" roads meaning there is no other way in or out when they fail, and so they require immediate repairs in order to maintain access. These roads were originally constructed primarily with timber dollars, and in recent years SRS funding has provided much of the financial resource to maintain them and respond to these types of disaster events, which unfortunately are not all that uncommon in our county. With assistance from your office, Jefferson County ultimately received reimbursement for repair of some of these damaged sites through sources including FEMA and the FHWA Emergency Relief programs; however, the availability of funding through these programs is only known months after the event occurs with no guarantee at the time of the event that any assistance will be available. With budgets strained to the breaking point, there is no assurance that the County will have the financial resources in the future to respond to these events without a predictable and fully funded program such as the Forest Management for Rural Stability Act. We applaud your attention to natural resources and infrastructure issues critical to Jefferson County and across our great state and look forward to working with you and your staff going forward. We ask that you join in supporting the reintroduction of the Forest Management for Rural Stability Act in the 116th Congress. Please do not hesitate to contact our office if you have any additional questions. Sincerely, Kate Dean Jefferson County Commissioner, District 1 David Sullivan Jefferson County Commissioner, District 2 Greg Brotherton Jefferson County Commissioner, District 3 2 A4 Damage to the Upper Hoh Road MP 8.0, November 2017 ($400,000 and counting) �N Damage to Undi Road (Landslide), 2016 ($1,750,000) 3 Oil City Road MP 8.8, November 2015 ($425,01_)i:' r Quinault South Shore Road, December 2014 ($800,000) . ., . . . ^ iL Doewa!!ipsRoad, December 2014 ($175,000) : a \Z UpprHo Road M# ¥% December 2016(25$0 0a dcounting) 4 O� Cp �ss1 C'0 y"SII NGS% June 17, 2019 Board of County Commissioners 1820 Jefferson Street PO Box 1220 Port Townsend, WA 98368 Kate Dean, District 1 David Sullivan, District 2 Greg Brotherton, District 3 The Honorable Patty Murray United States Senate 154 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Senator Murray, We are writing to thank you for your ongoing support of the Secure Rural Schools and Self - Determination Act (SRS) and urge your continued leadership on this important matter. The recent introduction of 5.1643, the Forest Management for Rural Stability Act of 2019, by Senators Wyden, Crapo, Merkley, and Risch offers to bring much needed long-term financial stability to timber dependent counties like ours. The latest extension of the SRS Act expired in FY2018 and faces a challenging path to what would likely be only another short-term reauthorization. While we are grateful for these past reauthorizations, the uncertainty surrounding them over the last few years has resulted in corresponding financial uncertainty for our rural county with its limited and insufficient sources of revenue to provide basic services. For these reasons we urge you to support the reintroduction of the Forest Management for Rural Stability Act during the 116th Congress. Since its inception, the SRS program has been critical to Jefferson County's ability to provide basic services to our constituents. Until 2008, Jefferson County received about $1.3 million per year for roads maintenance and construction purposes, while an additional $1.3 million went to schools from Jefferson County's SRS allocation. To put this in perspective, that level of funding is equal to what the County receives in annual motor vehicle fuel tax allocations. In fact, the SRS payment represented about 25% of our regular operating budget for county roads. Unfortunately, in subsequent years the SRS payment decreased to less than $400,000 per year under this program, and the last payment the County received was for FY2018. In FFY2016, Jefferson County receive no SRS payment and received instead a share of federal timber receipts that totaled only $76,000. To deal with the dramatic cutback, the County has continued to defer maintenance on pavements, bridges, and culverts, including replacement of fish barriers, and has eliminated jobs that went along with this work. While reduced funding levels present significant challenges, not having the SRS program or the Forest Management for Rural Stability Act at all is simply unsustainable. Jefferson County will face dramatic budgetary shortfalls that will require us to forego even the most basic maintenance and repairs to avoid bankruptcy. Phone (360) 385-9100 Fax (360) 385-9382 jeffbocc@co.jefferson.wa.us The events of recent winters demonstrate the predicament we are in. Jefferson County continues to suffer repeated damage from storms in our region. As you can see from the attached photos a number or our roads have suffered significant damage. Coincidentally, every one of these roads is also a "Federal lands access" road meaning they provide direct access to Federal resource and recreation lands including Olympic National Park, the famed Hoh River Rainforest, and Olympic National Forest. These roads are also "sole access" roads meaning there is no other way in or out when they fail, and so they require immediate repairs in order to maintain access. These roads were originally constructed primarily with timber dollars, and in recent years SRS funding has provided much of the financial resource to maintain them and respond to these types of disaster events, which unfortunately are not all that uncommon in our county. With assistance from your office, Jefferson County ultimately received reimbursement for repair of some of these damaged sites through sources including FEMA and the FHWA Emergency Relief programs; however, the availability of funding through these programs is only known months after the event occurs with no guarantee at the time of the event that any assistance will be available. With budgets strained to the breaking point, there is no assurance that the County will have the financial resources in the future to respond to these events without a predictable and fully funded program such as the Forest Management for Rural Stability Act. We applaud your attention to natural resources and infrastructure issues critical to Jefferson County and across our great state and look forward to working with you and your staff going forward. We ask that you join in supporting the reintroduction of the Forest Management for Rural Stability Act in the 116th Congress. Please do not hesitate to contact our office if you have any additional questions. Sincerely, Kate Dean Jefferson County Commissioner, District 1 David Sullivan Jefferson County Commissioner, District 2 Greg Brotherton Jefferson County Commissioner, District 3 M Damage to the Upper Hoh Road MP 8.0, November 2017 ($400,000 and counting) Damage to Undi Road (Landslide), 2016 ($1,750,000) L i O� Oil City Road MP 8.8, November 2015 ($4-'-'-).o00) Quinault South Shore Road, December 2014 ($800,000) 4 Dosewallips Road, December 2014 ($175,000) Upper Hoh Road MP 9.7, December 2016 ($250,000 and counting)