District attorney asks County Court for money to fund slots
By Larry Meyer
Argus Observer
Thursday, April 30, 2009 10:24 AM PDT
VALE — Budget time for the county is near, and though the budget committee has not met yet, Malheur County District Attorney Dan Norris is asking for the approval of three positions in his office to help manage his growing case load.
Yet the request by Norris may depend on how much money the county receives from the Payments in Lieu of Taxes program.
Norris made an appearance before the Malheur County Court Wednesday to present his case for his budget and the three positions — a victims advocate slot, a legal secretary and a discovery clerk.
It could become a crisis situation if his office cannot provide adequate advocacy services, Norris warned the court. Janice Belnap, county administrator, estimated the cost of adding the three staff members would be about $140,000, with benefits.
Norris said, while two of the positions are not as critical to his office, they are needed to allow he and his staff to do their jobs more effectively.
PILT funds are paid out to counties that contain federal land which are not subject to local property taxes, to help defray the loss of that revenue.
Malheur County has been the largest recipient of PILT funds in Oregon because more than 70 percent of its land is owned by the federal government and because it has received the least amount of money shared with counties from timber receipts.
It is estimated, with full-funding of the PILT program, Malheur County could receive more than $2 million, which would be a significant financial boost.
However, as the timber money is going away it is feared the counties that depend heavily on the timber funds will go after the PILT money, leaving less cash for Malheur County.
“Extraction based payments are a thing of the past,” Norris said.
He said he thinks there is a better chance of getting money for PILT payments expanded, which he hopes will happen, he said.
“I don’t see a change of more extraction,” he said. Like many other governments, the county’s budget remains tight and a hiring freeze remains in effect, and officials will not know what PILT dollars it will receive until June.
“It’s a tough issue,” Malheur County Commissioner Louis Wettstein said. In other action Wednesday the commissioners Wettstein and Jim Nakano approved and signed a quit-claim deed to be given to the new library district for the land the library in Ontario sits on.
Malheur County Judge Dan Joyce was in Salem.
