Rural Oregon Punches Back (Albany: sale, foreclosure, tax)

[Larry Caldwell]

"This argument is playing out in a courtroom in Albany, Ore., where Linn County officials are suing the state for $1.4 billion they and 14 other counties have been shorted since 1998."

State of Oregon owes counties - - Capital Press

[PNW-type-gal]

Doubt that is going to be successful. Although suing at the state level might be more likely than trying to sue the Feds.

[Terryj]

I think it is about time that the counties take the state to task over these lands. The counties agreed to turn their timber lands over to the state to help manage the resources of those lands. In return the state agreed to share the revenue with the counties. Non-management doesn't produce revenue and turning these land into something other than revenue producing lands violates the agreement between the counties and the state. By the state turning some of these lands into recreation areas doesn't do much to support the county. The only other option is for the counties to take back there timber lands and start manage those lands themselves, this would help create jobs and in turn produce timber revenues, which is a renewable resource. Like all renewable resources, you either use it or lose it.

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by Terryj

I think it is about time that the counties take the state to task over these lands. The counties agreed to turn their timber lands over to the state to help manage the resources of those lands. In return the state agreed to share the revenue with the counties. Non-management doesn't produce revenue and turning these land into something other than revenue producing lands violates the agreement between the counties and the state. By the state turning some of these lands into recreation areas doesn't do much to support the county. The only other option is for the counties to take back there timber lands and start manage those lands themselves, this would help create jobs and in turn produce timber revenues, which is a renewable resource. Like all renewable resources, you either use it or lose it.

The current move is to just sell the property back into private hands. It all used to be private, and the counties ended up with it for tax foreclosure, mostly during the 1930s. Now that the economy has recovered and the lands have become a political football, the best thing to do is to return them to private ownership, collect the sale money, quit spending management money on timber the state can't log, and call it a 70 year detour in land management.