With the return of federal county payments, Linn County officials are deliberating how to spend the money.

Should they restore spending plans that were cut when the county thought the timber payments would end?

Or should the money be saved for later?

Linn County expects to get about $13 million during the current budget year. Congress restored the county payments as part of the financial bailout bill passed last week.

The Linn commissioners and county department heads discussed what to do with the money on Wednesday.

Of the total, about $6.5 million would likely go to roads and about $2 million to schools.

For the rest, they decided to ask each department to come up with requests for essential expenditures that may have been cut during the previous two rounds of discussion, when the federal funds were not anticipated.

The Emergency Stabilization Act provides four more years of federal forest payments, in decreasing amounts.

The new law uses the 2006 payment amount as a base number, then shaves 10 percent from it.

"County payments," as federal payments for timber receipts are called, used to account for about 10 percent of the Linn County general fund, or about $2.6 million. This year the amount is estimated to be around $2.3 million.

Commissioner Cliff Wooten pointed out this money is not a windfall, and he would advise making savings accounts whole before any other monies are allocated.

"I'm reluctant to dump a wheelbarrow in the middle of the floor," he said, referring to the funds being redistributed to the county departments.

Mental Health Director Frank Moore said he believes cuts made in the last round of budget discussions were to essential services, echoing the opinion of many department heads.

Department leaders are to submit proposed "options" for reinclusion in the budget by Oct. 23. The goal is for the budget committee to reconvene Oct. 29 to make the final decisions.

"The direction will likely include instructions that they not add personnel unless it is some extreme circumstance," board Chairman Roger Nyquist said.