Since 1908, 25% of US Forest Service revenues from timber sales, mineral leases, livestock grazing, recreation fees, and other funding sources are shared with states and counties that have national forests. By the 1990s, Forest Service payments from these sources began to decline, largely because of long-term diminished volume in timber sales. So almost 25 years ago, Congress passed the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 which authorized enhanced payments to help states and counties fund local services otherwise at risk because of this decline in revenue.
From time to time, Congress must vote to reauthorize and fund the law. On October 19, 2017, the Senate voted on an amendment from Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) to establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to the provision of full, permanent, and mandatory funding for the payment in lieu of taxes program (PILOT). The amendment passed with 58 votes (including nine Republicans voting ‘yes’), however Fischer was one of the 41 Republicans who voted ‘no’.
Nebraska has 256,659 acres of national forests including the Nebraska National Forest, Oglala National Grassland and the Samuel R. McKelvie National Forest (named for the state’s 19th governor). These federal lands are spread out across portions of: Blaine, Cherry, Dawes, Sioux and Thomas counties, each sparsely populated and with thin tax bases.
For fiscal year 2018 which began a few weeks before the vote on the Udall amendment, Nebraska received just over $139,239 in total PILOT payments for the five counties. Because these federal lands are tax-exempt, these PILOT monies are critical to helping rural counties pay for costs of law enforcement by sheriffs, busing and education expenses by local school districts and other budget line items.
It’s head-scratching why Sen. Fischer would vote against bringing this money back to our rural counties where it is so badly needed.