A federal funding stream that has supported road maintenance and schools on the North Olympic Peninsula for over a decade is about to run dry.
The Secure Rural Schools Act expired Friday.
Final payments will be distributed among counties in 41 states in December and January.
Unless the act is renewed by Congress, Clallam and Jefferson counties and their school districts will be left with another hole to fill in their budgets.
For the counties, that means less road maintenance. Jefferson County received about $1 million this year for roads, while Clallam County was allotted $531,194.
“We can’t keep doing what we always have done because the revenue is not coming in anymore,” said Clallam County Administrator Jim Jones.
The 2000 act, which has been phased out over the past four years, was intended to offset the financial hit from logging restrictions put in place in the early 1990s, and the amount allocated depends on the size of federal forest land in each county.
Jefferson County Administrator Philip Morley and Jones said the impacts will be noticeable.
“It means both less new projects and less maintenance,” Morley said.
In Jefferson County, roads are being chip-sealed every 20 years instead of every 10; Clallam County is doing 20 miles of road paving a year instead of 50.
The impact for Peninsula schools is less direct.
The state has deducted the same amount they receive through the act, meaning, as Sequim School District Business Manager Brian Lewis put it, “It’s a wash as far as we’re concerned.”
But school administrators say they are still concerned because it seems unlikely that the state will be able to make up the difference.
“That would be a concern because they utilize that money in their budget,” said Port Angeles School District Superintendent Jane Pryne.
For this school year, the act allotted $474,000 to the Port Townsend School District, $185,000 to the Sequim School District, and $258,000 to Port Angeles School District.
Administrators with the other Peninsula school districts could not be reached for comment Friday.
Some efforts are being raised in Congress to reauthorize the act, including renewing payments at a lower level and allowing more logging on national forests.
But without any assurances the money will be there in the end, administrators say they have to expect the worse.
School officials “just don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Amy Khile, Port Townsend School District business manager.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
