GRANT COUNTY COURT 

FORMATION OF a ROAD SERVICE DISTRICT (RSD)

KEY TERMS 

SRS – Secure Rural Schools – federal payments to rural counties and school districts affected by the decline in timber receipts

PILT – Payment in Lieu of Taxes – payment to counties to offset lost revenue due to non-taxable federal lands within their jurisdictions

HB 2174 - House Bill 2174 – recently passed legislation to create an option for counties to increase their PILT payment

RSD - Road Service District – a public body receiving the forest reserve payments that would otherwise go to the county road fund

SRS, PILT, HOUSE BILL 2174 and ROAD SERVICE DISTRICT EXPLAINED

The ASSOCIATION OF OREGON COUNTIES (click for link) published a summary of the recently passed House Bill 2174, with an explanation of the benefit to counties choosing to form a road service district. The following topics are addressed:

 BACKGROUND                                                                                      HB 2174

 • Federal Lands in Oregon                                                           • What does HB 2174 do?

 • What is Secure Rural Schools (SRS)?                                         • What HB 2174 does not do

  • What is Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT)?                                                                                                         

FURTHER INFORMATION

Judge Scott W. Myers shared an informal explanation of the process:  This Road Service District is a new concept. A few years ago, rural counties realized that they were being shortchanged in some of their federal funding, in the way it was channeled through the State of Oregon, from the federal government. Representative Mark Owens and then-Senator Tina Kotek wrote a bill to be voted on in Salem. That bill passed and allowed counties to create Road Service Districts. The federal funds are sent directly to that Service District and the State can no longer keep an ”administrative fee” for their handling of that money. We will be able to receive about $250,000, annually, that was being withheld from our PILT payments, when they can no longer take that administrative fee. There are no additional taxes, nor additional money for other uses. It would go to this Service District fund to be used for exactly the same uses as any other County Road fund money. 

IMPORTANT POINTS

• The Road Service District will serve as a separate entity to receive SRS payments
• The Road Service District will not result in additional taxes for residents within the district
• There is no decrease in funding for the Road Department
• The payments must be spent in the same manner as current requirements dictate    
• The annual state fee currently retained from the PILT payment would be reduced or eliminated; an approximate $250,000 annual increase to the general fund

GRANT COUNTY COURT TIMELINE

ORDER 2023-01    

PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE #1

ORDER 2023-02   

PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE #2

ORDER 2023-03  

March 1, 2023 - Intention to form a Road Service District, Order 2023-01

Posted & Published Notice of First Public Hearing 

April 5, 2023 – Public Hearing and Order 2023-02 intention to form a Road Service District  

Posted & Published Notice of Second Public Hearing 

May 4, 2023 – Public Hearing and 1) declaration of Road Service District formation if no election is requested OR 2) voter referendum upon the requisite number of written requests for election submitted to the Court