LAKE COUNTY ? Lake County”s schools and roads will get an estimated $784,380 cash injection from the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 after the Lake County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to accept the money Tuesday.
Lake County Superintendent of Schools Dave Geck worked for two years to get the federal funds re-authorized for two years. Money from timber sales buoyed the county”s schools and roads for the past 30 years until the act sunsetted in September 2006. The money is split first between the maximum 85-percent allocation for schools and roads and a 15-percent allocation for other county projects.
“Schools really depend on these funds. We have historically split the funds between both schools and roads. Looking at what has happened here recently in terms of the state”s fiscal crisis, we are looking at those dollars as being very important on the school side of the county,” Geck said.
The allocation for schools and roads has historically been split 50/50 between the two. Geck said in a prior interview that the allocation for schools was approximately $512,000 in the 2006-07 school year.
“Funding provided in this fiscal year will be approximately $100,000 less than received in the prior year and will continue to decline in each following fiscal year,” Lake County Deputy Administrative Officer Jeff Rein said.
The funding was re-authorized for four years, and will taper off during that time. Rein said he anticipates that by the 2011-12 fiscal year, the county will receive approximately half of the more than $1 million received in the 2007-08 fiscal year.
The board decided to accept the funding, and to discuss at a later date what projects to fund with the remaining $138,420 of the federal funding. Among the options considered were the acquisition of property atop Mount Konocti and the county”s efforts to combat the spread of the invasive quagga mussel into its water bodies.
Supervisors Denise Rushing and Rob Brown expressed a desire for the board to have more flexibility in deciding how to use the portion of the funds usually used for a community chipping program.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636 ext. 37.
