PLEASE CONTACT CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES AND TELL THEM TO 
SUPPORT the RE-AUTHORIZATION and FULL FUNDING of the SECURE RURAL SCHOOLS and COMMUNITY SELF-DETERMINATION ACT
Without prompt Congressional action, Coconino County will face budget shortfalls that will impact their ability to provide funding for schools and roads.
Below you will find an article with great information from the AZ Daily Sun concerning Secure Rural Schools. There is also information taken from the National Association of Counties. In short, these are monies that the County receives to help provide stability for forest counties and school districts affected by reduced revenue due to federal policies that have dramatically curtailed federal timber receipts. For over 100 years, the federal government has shared 25 percent of federal forest revenues with counties to compensate them for federal ownership of forest lands that cannot be taxed at the local level, but these revenue-sharing payments are no longer even sufficient to cover the services that must be provided. And now there seems to be a drop in these funds and perhaps even elimination!
Click here or on the picture for a fact sheet provided by Coconino County and click here for the beginning of a sample letter. Contact information for Congressional Representatives is also below.
AZ Daily Sun Article: County worried over drop in vital federal funds
Information from National Association of Counties:
As Congress works to finalize the FY 2017 appropriations process, they now have an opportunity to keep their commitment to counties by fully funding PILT and reauthorizing the SRS program.
The Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program provides payments to local governments in 49 states—nearly 1,900 counties, boroughs and parishes—to offset reduced property tax revenue due to the presence of tax-exempt federal lands within their jurisdictions. Without the certainty of full funding for the PILT program, counties across the nation will be unable to provide essential services such as education, law enforcement, search and rescue, road maintenance and public health to our residents and millions of federal lands visitors.
Secure Rural Schools (SRS) payments support public schools, public roads, forest health projects, essential search and rescue and emergency services, and many other county programs. These funds help provide stability for forest counties and school districts affected by reduced revenue due to federal policies that have dramatically curtailed federal timber receipts. For over 100 years, the federal government has shared 25 percent of federal forest revenues with counties to compensate them for federal ownership of forest lands that cannot be taxed at the local level, but these revenue-sharing payments are no longer sufficient to cover the services we must provide. Unless SRS is quickly reauthorized, forest counties across the country will face severe budgetary shortfalls that could impact counties’ ability to provide services to our residents.
Jeff Flake
US Senators for Arizona (R)
Phone: 202-224-4521
Phoenix: 602-840-1891
Tucson: 520-575-8633
Fax: 202-228-0515
Email: Jeff@JeffFlake.com
Internet contact form: https://www.flake.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact-jeff
John McCain III
US Senators for Arizona (R)
Phone: (202) 224-2235
Fax: (202) 228-2862
Internet contact form: https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact-form
Tom O’Halleran
US Representative for Arizona district 1 (D)
Phone: 202-225-3361
Fax: 202-225-3462
Internet contact form: https://ohalleran.house.gov/contact