CANYON CITY Meeting last Friday, the Grant County Budget Committee put off making a decision on giving money to the local schools districts.

The committee is expected to decide that and also hear a request from the incorporated cities in its next regularly scheduled meeting, at 9 a.m. Thursday, April 19.

The county budget is supposed to be in final form on April 24.

At the county panels April 13 session, members discussed options including: giving money to the schools contingent on the renewal of federal county payments; giving money from the road department, contingent on evidence that the school districts are trying different ways to meet student needs; and not funding the schools.

Members heard from Mark Witty, superintendent of Grant School District No. 3, who described recent and proposed cuts to district staff and programs.

The local school districts are seeing declining enrollment along with reduced state funding due to the recession, forcing cuts.

About 30 district officials and community members met Monday night in a brainstorming session hosted by GREAT Corp., a nonprofit economic development group.

The session, held at The Outpost in John Day, was expected to be the first in a longer process that seeks to find innovative ways to meet student needs in the changing financial framework.

Meanwhile, the county received a letter requesting funds for the cities John Day, Canyon City, Mt. Vernon, Prairie City, Seneca, Dayville, Long Creek, Monument and Granite that are home to 63 percent of the countys population.

The letter cited several references from elected leaders describing federal county payments as a promise and a victory for forest communities.

We believe the term communities refers to more than just the corporate boundaries of Grant County, the letter states. We believe that communities includes each and every city in Grant County, and the funds distributed to Grant County over the past four years were intended to be shared with the cities and the schools.

The letter said that of $29,927,398 received by the county, only $633,000 has been disbursed to the cities.

The cities argue that they have no way to build up reserve funds and that their budgets are being depleted by safety, street and maintenance needs.