USDA Announces FY 2014 Secure Rural Schools Payments

On April 28, 2015, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced  that the Forest Service’s Secure Rural Schools (SRS) payments to states for fiscal year (FY) 2014 will total $285 million, following a two-year reauthorization of the program through the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (P.L. 114-10). SRS provides assistance to states and counties affected by declining revenues from timber sales. USDA already distributed $50 million in FY 2014 payments according to an earlier, less generous formula, as well as $6 million in Special Act payments. All told, total Forest Service payments for FY 2014 will be $291 million, of which states and counties are still owed $235 million.