No Money, Mo Problems
Oregon County Faces Impending Doom
By Joseph Friedrichs, 7-14-08
Curry County vs. the Feds.
Unless money literally starts growing on trees, which could only occur on timber that is federally protected because of an owl and thus proves impossible to cut, several Oregon counties are soon to face absolute extinction.
Staggering statistics raging against both Curry and Josephine counties as a result of the demise of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act (not to mention the Endangered Species Act) has left county, state and federal officials scrambling to find a way to save schools, law enforcement agencies and other means of public service in each respective county.
Curry County, tucked away in the far southwestern section of the state, is petering on the brink of extinction. Beginning next month, Curry is set to lose about two-thirds of its $6.1 million general fund.
As my old pal Georgia Nowlin, the newest Curry County commissioner, said last July: “What’s wrong with our county?”
Well, Georgia, aside from the impending doom of a financial federal foreclosure, here are a few staggering troubles nipping at the heels of Curry County: Sex-crazed Sheriffs, Booze-Thirsty School and County Officials and One Of The State’s Least Discussed Populations.
With all due respect to Georgia and the rest of the crew in charge of running the seemingly failed county, those are not statistics I would want to roll through my thoughts during this, or any morning’s cup of coffee.
To begin, allow me to dish out some basic facts: Last month, a bill - the aforementioned Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act - would have continued to give money to Oregon schools, roads and public safety for the next four years was denied by the House because Republicans sided with “already profit-rich oil and gas companies,” as Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said.
As a result of the loss of funds, which state and county officials waited desperately on as those with no chance hope to strike it big on lottery games such as Powerball, Oregon’s counties will be out a combined $206 million a year in federal money. School districts will lose $31 million. There will deep cuts in the already limited budgets of law enforcement. Roads will turn to mush from pounding, vicious rainfall.
A few facts…
Fact: School districts will lose $31 million in Oregon.
Fact: Recently resigned Brookings School District (located in Curry County) Superintendent Chris Nichols is facing charges of appearing at a 2006-2007 boys’ basketball home game under the influence of alcohol; Smelling of alcohol or seemingly intoxicated while at work; Yelling at subordinates; Ignoring warnings from staff members concerning student safety; Failing to appropriately address student safety with the assignment of a bus driver accused of inappropriately touching female students.
Fact: Oregon is facing a cut of 12 percent to county discretionary general funds, which pay for programs such as sheriff’s patrols and libraries.
Fact: Recently recalled Curry County Sheriff Mark Metcalf was booted from his position because he couldn’t keep his slimy hands from the females who worked in his office.
Fact: There will be a 28 percent cut to road programs in Oregon.
Fact: Highway 101 washes out annually just north of Brookings in Curry County and a majority of public roadways in the county are already in need of repair.
As my boy Matthew Preusch reports, for more than a century the federal government has shared timber receipts with local governments, which rely in large part on property taxes to pay for services.
Now that money has vanished in a method that only D.B. Cooper himself could be proud of. What this mess leaves in its wake is a sense of Fear so deep to thousands of Oregonians it can only be summed up by Marlyn Schafer, my favorite Curry County Commissioner.
“We’ve cut everybody down to the very minimum and we know we can’t cut anymore,” said Commissioner Marlyn Schafer, who is set to leave office come 2009.
Earlier this year Schafer was accused of having a drinking problem, to which she responded “I have never been drunk on the job and I never drove a county car drunk.”
Best of luck Curry County.
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Curry county, like all of the coastal counties of Oregon, has less than 10% of its land in ownerships under 500 acres. Federal and State lands, large timber company land holdings dominate the ownership, and are cast in stone as to their status for use and taxation by the Legislature and the U.S. Congress. At the same time the U.S. Budget was pared of county support for missing timber revenue, the Democrats gave the Timber Barons a large tax cut. Now, without revenue from timber sales, and the economic multiplier those logs produce, and no longer getting replacement money at a percentage of the historical average, the counties are legally limited as to how much they can tax personal and real property by Oregon constitutional law, and that at a time of declining real estate values. The space between the rock and the hard place diminishes daily.
I have no idea how county commissioners will address their dilemma, but in my house, when you don't have the money, you don't buy or pay. You cut your usage. You downsize to meet the budget. You work harder and longer. I just guess that is hard to envision for public works, local government, law enforcement and courts, but if there is no money, there is no service.
Having the public lands dominant in your county is no longer a blessing, but a curse. You have the Feds promising fire across the landscape, and any attempts at reducing fuels is met by a phalanx of lawyers from the Green Left. No logging is allowed, or very little, and trees grow each year, demanding more water and drying up small streams and springs. Insects begin to take their toll on stressed trees, and the fuel load increases.
I rather like the whole of the idea, and the impending lawlessness that our public lands will witness with the vastly reduced county law enforcement effort, courts and services. If enough crime and violence, lack of services, will change people's ideas and thinking, maybe we will have thoughtful solutions in the future. Like being on the drugs so many prefer, the voting population will have to hit rock bottom before they will be willing to address change. I think this weaning of counties from the public lands is just the ticket. Cut them off cold turkey. Watch for the tremors, the shakes, the sweating. There could be some good come from this.