Counties Must File Secure Rural Schools Election Allocation Paperwork by September 30th

Counties must file Secure Rural Schools (SRS) election allocation paperwork by September 30, even if the intent is to keep the percentages as they are. Counties that do not file SRS election allocation paperwork by the deadline will go to the default allocations as laid out under the statute. Those default allocations are 80% to Title I (county roads/schools) and 20% to Title II (federal lands projects—held by the US Forest Service), with no opportunity to allocate funding to Title III (emergency services/community wildfire plans/broadband expansion). For more information on SRS election allocations, the USDA training slideshow and webinar recording are available here.  

Twenty-two (22) state treasurers have yet to submit the paperwork to the US Forest Service on behalf of counties. Please contact State Treasurer, Fiona Ma, to make sure California counties’ allocation election paperwork is processed. Otherwise, counties will lose funding that will then be held in the federal treasury for federal projects. For more information, contact RCRC Senior Policy Analyst Staci Heaton.