Roberts

ENTERPRISE — A measure on the Nov. 8 ballot asks Wallowa County residents to approve the creation of a road service district. The measure was referred to the ballot by the Wallowa County Board of Commissioners.

Susan Roberts, chair of the Board of Commissioners, emphasized in a press release about the measure that the road service district would not be a taxing district. No taxes will be assessed due to the formation of the road district, she said.

Roberts said the idea behind the proposal is to ensure the county receives a full share of funds from two separate federal payments.

Wallowa County receives two federal payments each fiscal year. The first payment is from the Secure Rural Schools Act of 2000, which is intended to offset lost timber revenues that provided funding for the county road department, and to the Wallowa County Education Services District for county schools.

The second payment is known as payment in lieu of taxes, which is paid instead of property taxes for the 58% of Wallowa County lands managed by the federal government. This payment flows into the county’s general fund to help pay for operations of other departments.

But there’s a catch, Roberts explained. A portion of a later federal PILT payment made in the same fiscal year is subject to a reduction formula. She said the formula has cost Wallowa County an average of $500,000 a year over the past several years.

Under the terms of a bill passed in 2021 by the Oregon Legislature, if Wallowa County establishes a road service district, the district — not the county — would receive the payment from the Secure Rural Schools Act. That, in turn, would mean the following payment of PILT funds in the same fiscal year would not be subject to the reduction formula, allowing the county general fund to receive the full amount. The additional money could go to support county departments such as the sheriff’s office, the district attorney and other administrative offices at the county courthouse.

“This is a mechanism to keep the federal government from withholding their tax payments to us,” Roberts said.