The county has a big check to cash, but it’ll probably keep it in the bank for a rainy day.   

The Bureau of Land Management announced Tuesday that the final timber payment was made to 18 western Oregon counties, including Coos.

Of about $116 million paid by the federal government of in-lieu timber payment, Coos County received about $6 million, said Coos County Commissioner John Griffith.

The county initially made plans to cut a number of employees and services after receiving word that the subsidy would be stopped in 2006. However, with a one-year extension of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act last year, the county received one more check this week.

“This is the second final payment,” Griffith said.

The act works to replace money lost by the county due to declines in money from federal timber harvests.

When Coos County made its current budget, a number of employees and services were initially on the chopping block due to the perceived shortfall, Griffith said. In response to the extension, the number of employee cuts were halted and some of the money was put into capital improvement projects, he added. But a large part of the subsidy was put into a contingency fund, which is where a portion of the additional payment will also be placed, he added.

Money in the contingency fund is not specifically earmarked for projects or personnel, he said.

As for the latest — and last — payment, Griffith said the county will not immediately layoff more employees. In the last round of layoffs, several cuts were made in the Coos County Sheriff’s Department and district attorney’s office.

“We’ll bob along for awhile,” he said. “But it’s not sustainable.”

County Commissioner Nikki Whitty sees continued difficulty for the county in the future due to the loss of the about half of the county’s operating budget supplied by the timber dollars.

“It’s going to be real tough,” she said.

Whitty also said there needs to be more equity between the county and state system.

But there might be hope for continued payments to the county. Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio has introduced legislation that would extend the payments to the counties for an additional four years.

But, as Whitty pointed out, the payments would diminish over that period of time.

The final payment would be only 40 percent of current levels, Griffith said.