GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) - Lane County is one of the most populous counties in Oregon and one that has relied for years on federal timber payments.
Now, facing what may be the end of the federal subsidies, it's planning a budget that cuts 200 workers, eliminates the county morgue, cuts patrol deputies by three-quarters, reduces jail beds for local offenders by more than half, cuts parole and probation so people convicted of domestic violence will be on their own, cuts criminal prosecutions by nearly a third, and stops maintenance of rural roads.
Lane is one of several counties in Oregon timber country facing dire financial difficulties even if Congress reauthorizes the so-called timber payments this year.
Only one of them, Josephine County, is offering voters a chance to raise their property taxes to pay for criminal justice and other services. The rest are cutting services or tapping cash reserves such as road funds to balance budgets starting July 1.
"It's because the voters have said 'no' 14 times, and the last time they said, 'Hell no!'" said Lane County District Attorney Alex Gardner. "I feel like I'm one of those windup toys where you push the button and out belches the same old story, only it's a little bit sadder every time."
Timber counties across the country have been getting a subsidy since 2000 to make up for reductions in their share of federal timber revenues that plummeted when logging on national forests was cut more than 80 percent to protect habitat for fish and wildlife. The subsidies have run out, and logging is unlikely to increase anytime soon.
Oregon has been hit the hardest. The current bill to renew payments, which has passed the Senate but not the House, would give Oregon $106.4 million, California $35.5 million, Idaho $29.2 million, Washington $24 million, and Montana $22.4 million. That is not enough to plug current county budget gaps.
The criminal justice system bears the biggest cuts, because it draws from the general fund, where the timber money goes in Oregon.
Josephine County has put a four-year sheriff's levy on the May 15 ballot which would quadruple the county base tax rate to maintain current staffing. Without it, the county is facing a $12 million budget gap, and severe cuts to the sheriff's office, district attorney, juvenile and probation services. If federal payments are revived, they would only cover $4 million.
Crime has been declining since 1964, but now people are talking about arming themselves if the sheriff's office has to cut patrols and the jail to a bare minimum, said Sheriff Gil Gilbertson.
"If we don't have law enforcement, insurance rates are going to increase, people will not want to move here, property values are going to go down, businesses won't want to relocate here," he said.
In Curry County, commissioners are mulling a 3 percent sales tax to plug a $3 million gap in their $5 million budget. Hoping to give voters more time to come to terms with higher taxes, they are thinking about the November ballot. After looking at 35 percent cuts across the board, the County Budget Committee has suggested borrowing $1 million from funds for paving roads and buying new vehicles to keep the doors open another year. But commissioners warn that without some new source of revenue, the doors will close July 1, 2013.
"We can't cut our way out of this problem," said Commissioner Dave Itzen. "We need more revenue. Now the dialogue is how do we get more revenue."
Jackson County is an exception. While it has to trim the sheriff and district attorney's offices, it will be fine without $4 million in federal timber money, said Commissioner C.W. Smith. Anticipating the timber money would not last forever, the county started six years ago cutting 25 percent out of the budget and putting cash into reserves. It had an advantage over Josephine and Curry counties by having a higher base tax rate.
"I was sheriff (in 1983) when we went from 43 road deputies to seven," said Smith. "I remember how chaotic that was. I said, 'Let's do this a little differently.'"
Klamath County voters turned down two sheriff's levies in the past two years, so commissioners are tapping the road fund for $2 million to get them through the year without cutting law enforcement any deeper, said Commissioner Dennis Linthicum.
He blamed the timber money for creating an unsustainable environment of big jails and lots of sheriff's deputies.
"It turns out maybe we shouldn't have built all that," he said. "It takes a handout from the federal government to sustain it."
Linthicum said voters were happy to raise their taxes 49 cents per thousand for the library before the economic crash but now refuse to pay more for public safety.
"When you call 911 and there's nothing but the bookmobile, you're really in trouble," he said. "Somehow, we need to fund public safety."