The U.S. Forest Service will host online training sessions for county officials on the county allocation election process for the newly reauthorized Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program. This meeting will focus on the history, reporting requirements, recent legislative changes and county allocation election requirements for SRS.

The SRS program provides assistance to rural counties and school districts affected by the decline in revenue from timber harvests on federal lands. Public lands counties rely on programs like SRS to help maintain their budgets while bearing the responsibility of untaxable federal lands. While these payments represent a fraction of what counties would collect from property taxes and timber receipts, they are critical for local governments to meet their governing missions.

SRS has three distinct titles that determine how funds can be spent: Title I (roads and schools), Title II (projects on federal lands) and Title III (county wildfire protection projects, broadband access and emergency services on federal lands). You can find more detailed information on these three titles here.

Counties have been locked into their allocations between SRS Titles I-III since FY 2013. This is your first opportunity in nearly a decade to decide how your SRS funds can best be spent. The county allocation process opens on July 20 and forms must be submitted by September 30.

County officials interested in learning more about the county allocation election process are invited to attend the following online training sessions:

• July 12 at 1 p.m. EDT | Meeting link
• July 14 at 3 p.m. EDT | Meeting Link

If you have any questions or need further information, please contact NACo Legislative Director for Public Lands Jonathan Shuffield at jshuffield@naco.org.