Trump signs bill renewing Secure Rural Schools

By JOSH MCDONALD

Staff Reporter

WALLACE — It appears that local budget fears from county and school officials have been quelled following President Donald Trump’s signing of the massive $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill late last week.

This large federal spending bill dedicated funds to a wide range of budget areas such as health care, defense and other niche programs and acts.

One of these programs in particular was the Secure Rural Schools program that has historically provided additional funding to counties and schools that are situated near federally owned forest land.

For months now, Shoshone County and the school districts in it have been waiting in suspense to see if the highly relied upon funds would be renewed.

With the bill’s passage by Congress last Thursday and signing Friday morning, the county is now set to receive back payments of missed SRS funds for fiscal year 2017 within 45 days. The funds for fiscal year 2018 are also expected to arrive sometime in the next two months.

Shoshone County will receive roughly $2 million for the 2017 fiscal year, as well as $2 million for 2018 (those amount to 95 percent of the SRS funds that were received in 2016). $1.2 million of each payment will be designated for the county’s roads budget.

In the past, funds have always been split 60/40 between the county and its schools. The three school districts in the county (Kellogg, Wallace and Mullan) have then taken their 40 percent and split it up between themselves according to size.

The schools have used the money in various ways including facilities maintenance, but the county has exclusively used the money to make sure that they are keeping the roads of Shoshone County up to code.

The Shoshone Board of County Commissioners was pleased to hear of the bill’s passing, but also doubled down on previous statements to continue to explore ways to tighten up their budget.

“The BOCC will be taking proactive steps in the near future to insure the use of SRS funds are maximized and to examine multiple alternatives for long-term and stable roads funding,” BOCC chairman Mike Fitzgerald said. “This means we will be looking very carefully at all potential revenue, fund balance building and operational options.”

The bill drew a split decision from Idaho’s congressmen. Idaho Senator Jim Risch and Congressman Raul Labrador both voted no on the bill, while Senator Mike Crapo and Congressman Mike Simpson both voted yes.

Additional coverage of the SRS funding will be provided in the Saturday, March 31 edition of the News-Press.