CANYON CITY — The Grant County Court is taking steps to form a new road district — not to raise revenue but to plug a legal loophole that is draining funds from the county treasury.

“It wouldn’t affect our county taxpayers whatsoever, but it would put a quarter-million dollars back in our general fund,” Commissioner Jim Hamsher said at the court’s Feb. 1 session.

According to Hamsher, the state has made a practice of withholding $250,000 each year in federal payment in lieu of taxes funds (known by the acronym PILT) against the county’s share of Secure Rural Schools Act money from the prior year.

He said he doesn’t know why the state withholds that money – but he does know the county never gets it back.

Hamsher wants to take advantage of a new law, House Bill 2174, to create a road district exclusively to receive the county’s share of SRS money and pass those funds directly to their intended recipients — Grant County schools and roads.

“It’s just a different account that the funds go into,” he said.

That way, Hamsher said, the state wouldn’t have to write a check to the county for SRS payments and, therefore, would no longer be able to withhold a chunk of the county’s PILT money.

Some members of the audience spoke out against the plan, saying it would enable officials to raid the county road fund for other purposes, but Hamsher and fellow court members Scott Myers and John Rowell said that was not the case, pointing to language in the law and the reolution that restricts the use of those funds.

The court voted 3-0 to begin the process to create the road district, which will include at least one public hearing before it comes to a final vote.

The court also scheduled an initial work session to discuss the possibility of forming a taxing district to raise revenue for the sheriff’s office.

The work session will take place in the courthouse at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 15. No decision on the matter will be made at the work session.

In other action at the Feb. 1 meeting, the court:

• Approved a memorandum of understanding between the county road department and Prairie City for the shared use and maintenance of a rock shed at the Prairie City Public Works Department shops.

• Heard an update on the South Fork John Day Watershed Council.

• Discussed issues with the county nuisance ordinance in relation to enforcing septic system requirements and directed the county attorney to draft a revised ordinance.

• Discussed a joint application by the Grant County Economic Development Office and Grant County Soil and Water Conservation District for up to $500,000 in state grant funding for wildfire risk reduction efforts and staff support.

• Approved an invoice for new heating and cooling equipment in the county’s remodeled L Building. The vote was 2-1, with Commissioner Rowell voting no because the expenditure had not been approved in advance.

• Approved a number of committee appointments.

• Approved the purchase of a new water heater and filtration system for the jail at an estimated cost of $4,153.62.

• Approved a request from the district attorney’s office to send four people to a conference on domestic violence and sexual assault at a cost of $10,955.12.

• Approved an amendment to a law enforcement services contract between the sheriff’s office and the Bureau of Land Management.

• Approved budget transfers of $468,440 from the road fund to the school-forest fund and $406,495 from the road fund to the cities-streets-bridges fund.

• Approved a $384 cost overrun on a previously approved purchase of communications equipment by the emergency management office.

• Approved the purchase of three computers for the district attorney’s office at a cost of $4,507.

• Approved a contract to conduct a required audit of the jail’s performance under the Prison Rape Elimination Act at a cost of $4,200.