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ENLARGE
Douglas County Commissioner Joe Laurance, left, Budget Committee Chairman Bill Leming, middle, and Commissioner Marilyn Kittelman listen to Tommy Neyhart, the county’s building facilities manager, during budget hearings at the Douglas County Courthouse last Monday.
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Ray Duncan, the county’s communications director, talks to the Douglas County Budget Committee during budget hearings last Monday at the Douglas County Courthouse. Three dispatch positions are set to be eliminated from the county’s police dispatch center.
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ENLARGE
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Douglas County officials breathed a short sigh of relief after President George W. Bush on Friday signed into law an emergency supplemental spending bill.
The $120 billion spending bill, which contained money to continue military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, also provided $425 million to pay for a one-year extension of the federal timber safety net.
Douglas County stands to receive about $53 million from the safety net allocation, the same amount it received in the current fiscal year.
The payment will represent 12.5 percent of the total amount to be split among 700 timber-dependent counties in 39 states.
Inclusion of the short-term extension will allow Douglas County to maintain operations through the next fiscal year with only minor impact. Residents should not see a big change in services.
Next month, the county is looking to approve a $43 million general fund budget for the 2007-08 year, down $3.7 million from the current year.
However, local officials are already looking ahead to the following year, when Congress could either enact a longer safety net extension or do away with the program altogether.
Commissioner Doug Robertson has suggested he and fellow Commissioners Marilyn Kittelman and Joe Laurance spend the next six months talking with department heads to identify cutbacks that will have to be made if the safety net goes away. He said they would then spend the following six months developing a concrete plan on how to deal with that.
Earlier this year, department heads were asked to submit two sets of proposed budgets, one assuming that a one-year extension of the safety net would be passed and the other based on having no safety net revenue available.
The county has refused to release to the public the budget proposal that reflected a loss of about $22 million to the general fund and another $15 million to the county's road fund. Nor have the three commissioners discussed what cuts they may have contemplated for this next budget year if the Congressional action hadn't come through.
"I think we did the right thing in anticipating we'd have a one-year extension," Robertson said before Bush signed the bill but after its passage seemed assured.
<b>LARGER CUTS DOWN THE ROAD</b>
The county could face a massive downsizing a year from now if Congress doesn't extend the safety net a second time.
During two days of hearings last week by the Douglas County Budget Committee, that prospect was discussed extensively. Hundreds of employees could lose their jobs and a large number of county services would have to be curtailed or eliminated.
Without the $15 million received annually from the safety net, there would only be enough money in the road fund to maintain about 500 miles of the county's 1,100 miles of roads, said Robb Paul, the county's public works director.
Paul told the Budget Committee his department would have to downsize from 119 workers today to 40. With a reserve fund of $65 million built up since the mid-1980s in anticipation that one day the safety net might go away, Paul said his department could go through a gradual ramp-down, laying off only a few workers each year until there were only 40 workers left after eight years.
The $120 billion spending bill, which contained money to continue military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, also provided $425 million to pay for a one-year extension of the federal timber safety net.
Douglas County stands to receive about $53 million from the safety net allocation, the same amount it received in the current fiscal year.
The payment will represent 12.5 percent of the total amount to be split among 700 timber-dependent counties in 39 states.
Inclusion of the short-term extension will allow Douglas County to maintain operations through the next fiscal year with only minor impact. Residents should not see a big change in services.
Next month, the county is looking to approve a $43 million general fund budget for the 2007-08 year, down $3.7 million from the current year.
However, local officials are already looking ahead to the following year, when Congress could either enact a longer safety net extension or do away with the program altogether.
Commissioner Doug Robertson has suggested he and fellow Commissioners Marilyn Kittelman and Joe Laurance spend the next six months talking with department heads to identify cutbacks that will have to be made if the safety net goes away. He said they would then spend the following six months developing a concrete plan on how to deal with that.
Earlier this year, department heads were asked to submit two sets of proposed budgets, one assuming that a one-year extension of the safety net would be passed and the other based on having no safety net revenue available.
The county has refused to release to the public the budget proposal that reflected a loss of about $22 million to the general fund and another $15 million to the county's road fund. Nor have the three commissioners discussed what cuts they may have contemplated for this next budget year if the Congressional action hadn't come through.
"I think we did the right thing in anticipating we'd have a one-year extension," Robertson said before Bush signed the bill but after its passage seemed assured.
<b>LARGER CUTS DOWN THE ROAD</b>
The county could face a massive downsizing a year from now if Congress doesn't extend the safety net a second time.
During two days of hearings last week by the Douglas County Budget Committee, that prospect was discussed extensively. Hundreds of employees could lose their jobs and a large number of county services would have to be curtailed or eliminated.
Without the $15 million received annually from the safety net, there would only be enough money in the road fund to maintain about 500 miles of the county's 1,100 miles of roads, said Robb Paul, the county's public works director.
Paul told the Budget Committee his department would have to downsize from 119 workers today to 40. With a reserve fund of $65 million built up since the mid-1980s in anticipation that one day the safety net might go away, Paul said his department could go through a gradual ramp-down, laying off only a few workers each year until there were only 40 workers left after eight years.
He said that would allow some workers to retire before getting laid off or to seek other employment without having such a disruptive effect if all of those workers were let go at once. It would also help the county better maintain its road system at least for a few years.
"We'd look at taking $7 million out of our reserves the first year and then start to reduce maintenance, equipment and employees every year after that. Then the next year, we'd probably use about $6 million out of reserves and keep ramping down both equipment and personnel and the amount we use out of reserves," Paul said in response to a question from Budget Committee Chairman Bill Leming.
Kittelman said it would be more prudent to cut a larger number of employees early on. That way, she said, the department would have more money left in the road fund to perform maintenance duties.
"It used to be government's first job to keep the roads paved, not just to provide jobs. We need to keep the most money in that fund," Kittelman said.
She said the county could contract out work that it couldn't complete because of the loss of employees.
<b>SENIOR DINING, BUSING INTACT</b>
Rumors have spread that some of the county's senior dining sites may be closed in the next fiscal year, but Peggy Kennerly, the county's health director, said that is not true. That would only be necessary if safety nut funding had been cut off completely, she said.
"We'd look at taking $7 million out of our reserves the first year and then start to reduce maintenance, equipment and employees every year after that. Then the next year, we'd probably use about $6 million out of reserves and keep ramping down both equipment and personnel and the amount we use out of reserves," Paul said in response to a question from Budget Committee Chairman Bill Leming.
Kittelman said it would be more prudent to cut a larger number of employees early on. That way, she said, the department would have more money left in the road fund to perform maintenance duties.
"It used to be government's first job to keep the roads paved, not just to provide jobs. We need to keep the most money in that fund," Kittelman said.
She said the county could contract out work that it couldn't complete because of the loss of employees.
<b>SENIOR DINING, BUSING INTACT</b>
Rumors have spread that some of the county's senior dining sites may be closed in the next fiscal year, but Peggy Kennerly, the county's health director, said that is not true. That would only be necessary if safety nut funding had been cut off completely, she said.
The Health Department, however, will be negotiating a new contract for food obtained for the senior dining program. Coffee will no longer be served in order to cut costs. More than 120,000 meals are provided each year, both through home deliveries and at seven community dining sites throughout the county.
The county is continuing to negotiate with the cities of Roseburg, Sutherlin and Winston to help fund Umpqua Transit Service. County officials have said it would be difficult to make up the difference between what it costs to run the buses and payments received from state and federal programs without a higher commitment from the cities.
Kennerly said she is confident that the money can be obtained to continue the bus program, which has seen ridership increase the past two years, through the next fiscal year.
<b>DISPATCH CALL DELAYS</b>
Callers to the county's police dispatch center may find themselves waiting longer to speak with a dispatcher. The communications operation, which handles more than 400,000 calls a year, is set to eliminate three dispatch positions to keep its budget in check for next year.
Calls to emergency 911 lines will still take priority, but callers to the non-emergency line may find themselves placed on hold while dispatchers assist other residents who called in before them, said Ray Duncan, the county's communications director.
<b>OTHER ISSUES DISCUSSED</b>
The Budget Committee touched only briefly on plans for the Milltown Hill Dam. The Board of Commissioners plans to hold a meeting within the next few weeks to obtain an update on environmental studies being conducted and to determine whether the county should move forward on the project.
The county is continuing to negotiate with the cities of Roseburg, Sutherlin and Winston to help fund Umpqua Transit Service. County officials have said it would be difficult to make up the difference between what it costs to run the buses and payments received from state and federal programs without a higher commitment from the cities.
Kennerly said she is confident that the money can be obtained to continue the bus program, which has seen ridership increase the past two years, through the next fiscal year.
<b>DISPATCH CALL DELAYS</b>
Callers to the county's police dispatch center may find themselves waiting longer to speak with a dispatcher. The communications operation, which handles more than 400,000 calls a year, is set to eliminate three dispatch positions to keep its budget in check for next year.
Calls to emergency 911 lines will still take priority, but callers to the non-emergency line may find themselves placed on hold while dispatchers assist other residents who called in before them, said Ray Duncan, the county's communications director.
<b>OTHER ISSUES DISCUSSED</b>
The Budget Committee touched only briefly on plans for the Milltown Hill Dam. The Board of Commissioners plans to hold a meeting within the next few weeks to obtain an update on environmental studies being conducted and to determine whether the county should move forward on the project.
The county will also discuss the establishment of fees for commercial trash haulers and for construction contractors that dump building demolition waste into the county landfill. Implementation of a fee schedule, which hasn't been finalized, could help the county offset a portion of the $4 million cost of operating the landfill and county transfer stations.
<b>SAFETY NET TALKS CONTINUE</b>
Robertson said he is hopeful a longer-term safety net extension can be brokered over the next year.
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has identified tax loopholes that could be closed to provide additional revenue to pay for four additional years for the safety net. Although the specific loopholes have not been publicly identified -- to prevent the source of the added revenue from being grabbed for another purpose -- federal budget managers have looked at them and verified they exist, Robertson said.
In addition, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., have become powerful allies.
Bingaman, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, had opposed the safety net extension without changes to how the money is allocated among counties. After officials in Oregon, Washington and California, the three largest safety net recipients, agreed to cuts in the amount of money those states received, Bingaman endorsed the five-year extension.
Robertson said the five-year plan would give timber counties and the federal government time to develop a plan to wean counties off the safety net.
The key to that, he said, is creating added timber production and thinning work in the forests, through action by Congress. He also introduced a plan to sell off half of the Oregon & California Railroad lands for sustained timber production to provide income for Douglas County and 700 other timber-dependent counties in 39 states that have received safety net revenues.
Although the House plan for the one-year extension won out last week, a longer extension is still possible.
"The Senate remains very interested in the five-year extension and there will be further discussions on it," he said.
* You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.
<b>SAFETY NET TALKS CONTINUE</b>
Robertson said he is hopeful a longer-term safety net extension can be brokered over the next year.
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has identified tax loopholes that could be closed to provide additional revenue to pay for four additional years for the safety net. Although the specific loopholes have not been publicly identified -- to prevent the source of the added revenue from being grabbed for another purpose -- federal budget managers have looked at them and verified they exist, Robertson said.
In addition, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., have become powerful allies.
Bingaman, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, had opposed the safety net extension without changes to how the money is allocated among counties. After officials in Oregon, Washington and California, the three largest safety net recipients, agreed to cuts in the amount of money those states received, Bingaman endorsed the five-year extension.
Robertson said the five-year plan would give timber counties and the federal government time to develop a plan to wean counties off the safety net.
The key to that, he said, is creating added timber production and thinning work in the forests, through action by Congress. He also introduced a plan to sell off half of the Oregon & California Railroad lands for sustained timber production to provide income for Douglas County and 700 other timber-dependent counties in 39 states that have received safety net revenues.
Although the House plan for the one-year extension won out last week, a longer extension is still possible.
"The Senate remains very interested in the five-year extension and there will be further discussions on it," he said.
* You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.
