UNDATED - From flood-ravaged Vernonia to the Columbia River Gorge, small towns in Oregon and Washington are facing a serious financial crisis.

Counties across the Northwest are on the verge of losing giant chunks of their budgets and what is at stake are county services that people take for granted.

Why are the counties losing so much money? 

• It was decades ago when Congress created national forests and allowed railroads to have control over huge swaths of land.  What that did was take millions of acres off the property tax rolls. 
• To make up for the loss in property tax money, the federal government sent large portions of profits from timber harvests back to the states. 
• Those payments are about to end.  You see, in December of 2007, while the world heard news that Congress had just passed a law increasing fuel efficiency requirements for cars, behind all the fanfare was the reality that critical timber funding for Oregon and Washington counties got cut out of that very same energy bill at the 11th hour.

How much is at stake?

• Columbia County will lose 25 percent of its discretionary budget.  It means road crew money will be gone and deputies could be pulled from patrols.
• Skamania County schools stand to lose 40 percent of their budgets.
• Jackson County is facing a cut of 34 percent in its discretionary general funds.
• Douglas County, which is looking at losing 69 percent of its discretionary funds, will be the hardest hit.

What is being done?

• Northwest leaders at every level are trying to get Congress to pass a one-year funding plan this spring or summer to buy time for a permanent fix. 
• Just two weeks ago, President Bush proposed a budget that includes $200 million over three years for all the states in the county payments program.  That would be less than half the amount the states have received per year.  But it remains up to Congress to decide how much to spend on the program.