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RE: [RC] National Forest Lands - heidiThe Feds used to pay an "in lieu" fund to the counties based on the logging production on federal lands. That has all but ceased. The counties therefore get little or no "in lieu" tax funds and are going broke. Realize, the federal lands in some counties are up to 80% of the land in some cases. These rural counties were logging, mining and like industry areas. These counties are trying to boost tourism but that does not pay the same nor furnish the revenues to the county governments as in the past. Bob's comments are right on the mark, except that he is inaccurate as to the severity of the percentage of federal lands in some of our counties with his figure of "up to 80%." Lemhi County, where I reside, is over 92% federal land. And yes, our county struggles terribly due to the decrease in revenue--these lands used to provide jobs in both mining and timber, thereby greatly adding to the local tax base, but that is no longer the case. While we do see a small artificial "increase" due to the fact that the biggest employer in town is now the federal government, a) this nowhere near makes up for the jobs lost, and b) the "increase" itself is a bit of a fallacy, as their salaries come out of taxpayers' pockets. Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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