WASHINGTON – Deschutes County officials weren’t celebrating Thursday, despite news that Central Oregon counties would continue to receive millions in federal subsidies under a bill passed by the U.S. Senate.

Senators voted Thursday to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act as an amendment to the emergency spending bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The measure passed narrowly, 51-47. The bill faces a veto threat from President Bush over its call to set a timeline to pull out from Iraq. But even if the proposal does become law, Oregon’s federal delegation said last week they’re resigned to the days of big federal subsidies coming to an end in the near future.

That’s why in Deschutes County, where timber payments fund about $3 million in road maintenance, County Administrator Dave Kanner said the county is still moving ahead with plans to find other ways to repair streets.

”In my opinion, even if the Wyden amendment is approved, what we’re looking at is a ratcheting down in revenues over time, when we are already falling down on our road maintenance needs,” Kanner said.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and other Western senators attached the county timber payments program to the funding bill as part of their latest strategy to extend the $400-million-a-year subsidy.

Wyden’s amendment actually increases the county payments and another rural support program to $526 million for this year.

After that, funding would be cut by 10 percent each of the next five years.

Kanner and Road Department Director Tom Blust have recommended a range of new fees, including charges on new houses and businesses, to make up the lost difference. If county commissioners enact new fees and Congress does extend the program, Kanner said, the county would put away any extra money for a rainy day.

”If by some miracle we end up with more money than we needed, we would simply put that money in reserve,” Kanner said.

While Oregon’s congressmen applauded Wy-den’s success in brokering a deal, Reps. Greg Walden, a Republican, and Democrats Peter DeFazio and Earl Blumenauer all agreed the payments will end eventually.

”I don’t see it going on indefinitely, given the very, very difficult time we’ve all had so far,” Walden said. ”From here forward this program is not destined to satisfy all of the needs counties will have.”

Even so, Walden said the federal government should continue to support rural counties. That could mean allowing more forest thinning to raise money for rural counties or increased funding for a related program known as Payments In Lieu of Taxes.

”I think where the federal government retains such large land ownership, the government retains responsibility,” Wal-den said.

The act, passed in 2000, replaced timber receipts that once helped to pay for schools, roads and other services in 754 counties nationwide.

Oregon received the lion’s share of the money, about 55 percent, because the checks were pegged to timber harvests from federal lands in the boom years of the late 1980s.

According to data from the Association of Oregon Counties, Grant and Douglas counties got 68 percent of their budgets from the federal subsidies.

In Central Oregon, Crook County received $2.4 million, or 28 percent of its budget. Deschutes County got $2.8 million, which pencils out to 9.7 percent; and Jefferson County got $521,551, or 8.5 percent, according to an Association of Oregon Counties report issued in January.

Oregon Democrats offered similar plans for the program’s future – keep the payments flying as long as possible and try for a soft landing when they do end.

Wyden, DeFazio and Blumenauer each endorsed plans to increase harvests on second-growth forests.

”I think reasonable people are going to be moving in this general direction,” Blumenauer said. But he cautioned that it will take more than one idea to keep rural counties healthy.

”There is no silver bullet here, but I think we can say there may be some silver buckshot,” he added.

Josh Kardon, Wyden’s chief of staff, said the package approved by the Senate on Thursday was the result of hard work – and some compromises. The Senate proposal changed the county payments formula to provide big boosts to states with historically low timber harvests, including Nevada and New Mexico.

”Senator Wyden developed a plan with his colleagues that dealt with this new budget reality while softening the transition for his home state,” Kardon said. ”We managed to raise other votes while making certain that Oregon’s boat stayed afloat.”

The amendment would increase New Mexico’s funding tenfold – from $2.3 million in 2006 to about $20 million this year, according to Marie Najera, a spokeswoman for Sen. Jeff Bingaman, R-N.M.

But Najera said the extra money for New Mexico was not the sole consideration for Bingaman, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

”I hate to say that’s what it took,” Najera said. ”It was a negotiating process between the different senators, and this is something everyone could support.”

Oregon Republican Sen. Gordon Smith wasn’t available for comment on Thursday or Friday. Smith’s office released a written statement Thursday calling for increased logging to boost rural counties.

”If payments to Oregon counties are being ramped down, it is only fair that timber harvests be ramped up,” the statement read. ”Self-sustainability for rural counties means managing our natural resources in a way that works better for our economy and for our environment.”