Funding for rural counties and schools in forest communities – including 13 counties in West Virginia – won a reprieve today, courtesy of a four-year, $3.3 billion infusion of funding included in the economic stabilization package passed by the House of Representatives, said U.S. Rep. Nick J. Rahall (D-WV).

“Enactment of legislation to reauthorize the county payments program has long been one of my top priorities.  Today’s vote is a significant victory for rural communities in West Virginia and across the country, who have already been struggling under the weight of economic hardship, and have been on the brink of slashing essential services such as schools, law enforcement, and other critical local infrastructure,” said Rahall, who serves as Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over the county payments program.

The measure reauthorizes the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000, commonly referred to as county payments, through 2011.  The Act was originally enacted in 2000 to provide stability in the revenue-sharing payments made to states and counties that contain federal forest lands.  The provision establishes a new county payments distribution formula that is based on the historical allocation of timber receipts, the concentration of public land within the county, and the current economic condition of the county. 

Last year, West Virginia counties received approximately $2.02 million in county payments funding.  Pocahontas County obtained $672,115, the largest payment in the state.  Other counties in the Third Congressional District that have received funding are Webster County ($143,446), Greenbrier County ($220,620), and Monroe County ($12,088).  Given the change to the county payments formula included in the measure, funding to West Virginia counties would increase.

The package also fully funds the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program for four years.  PILT, administered by the Department of the Interior, are federal payments to local governments that help to offset the cost of services and infrastructure incurred by local jurisdictions where public lands are located. 

“This funding has been extremely important, critically so in many cases, in assisting schools and communities in rural counties across the country, including those in West Virginia,” Rahall said.  “By reauthorizing the Secure Rural Schools program and fully funding PILT, we are making good on the long-running federal commitment to our Nation’s public land communities and ensuring their continued economic vitality.”

According to Rahall, the measure mirrors an authorizing bill he co-sponsored and championed, the Public Land Communities Transition Act of 2007 (H.R. 3058).  That legislation was approved by the Natural Resources Committee in September 2007, but was not ultimately approved by the House under suspension of the rules in June 2008.