Not every measure on the ballot this November will be asking voters to raise taxes. One county measure proposes to limit how much money can be taken out of the county forest fund each year.

The Coos County Forest Fund contains revenue raised by timber harvests, special forest products sales, mining, oil and gas leases and other activities. All of the revenue from the fund ultimately goes into the county’s general fund.

The money flips from fund into fund based on a rolling, five-year average. But first, the county deducts the County Forester’s Office expenses from the rolling average. Once the revenue flows into the general fund at the beginning of each fiscal year, county managers blend it into the budget, according to the ballot information.

Commissioner Kevin Stufflebean, who pushed for the limitation, said if voters approve the measure it would prevent future commissioners from taking out too much money, except in the case of a declared emergency, such as a natural disaster.

The county set up the rolling average system in 1999 to create a stable cash stream. Annual timber revenues can vary quite a lot from year to year. The new system allows for more consistent payment and serves as cushion in years when timber revenue is down, Commissioner John Griffith said.

“This acts like a shock absorber on a vehicle,” he said. “It smoothes out those bumps.”

County forest funds account for much more of the budget now than when federal timber payments rolled in. The county forest money previously accounted for about one-quarter of the budget now makes up about half, Griffith said.

County Forester and Land Agent Bob Laport said the system has worked well.

“It’s eliminated a lot of the drama in the annual timber sale,” he said.

Now, a zero-sales year will ultimately lower the rolling average, but it won’t have as substantial an impact on the coming fiscal year’s transfer.

Besides in an emergency, the only other transfer exception would be when the fund balance exceeds $10 million. In that case, 50 percent of the balance more than $10 million could be invested into the county’s capital improvement fund.

“We are asking the citizens to verify what is already policy,” Griffith said.