Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced Wednesday that local governments with tax-exempt federal land in their jurisdictions will receive $228.5 million this year in compensation for forgone tax revenue.
Under the federal Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program, the money is distributed to about 1,850 county and other local governments around the nation to help pay for essential services such as firefighting and emergency response and to help improve school, road and water systems.
"These communities play a key role in supporting federal lands throughout the year," Kempthorne said. "We recognize and appreciate that vital assistance and are distributing these payments to local governments by June 12, so that the funds can help the counties plan their annual budgets."
Idaho this year will receive $16.1 million, down from $16.6 million in fiscal year 2007.
The Department of the Interior annually collects about $4 billion in revenue from commercial activities on federal lands, such as livestock grazing, timber harvesting, and oil and natural gas leasing. Some of these revenues are shared with states and counties in the form of revenue-sharing payments. The balance is deposited in the U.S. Treasury, which in turn pays for a broad array of federal activities, including annually appropriated PILT funding to counties.
Eligibility for PILT payments is reserved for local governments (usually counties) that contain nontaxable federal lands and provide government services related to public safety, housing, social services, transportation and the environment.
By law, the payments are calculated using a mandated formula based on the number of acres of federal entitlement land and the population within each county or jurisdiction. These lands include the National Forest, National Park and National Wildlife Refuge systems, as well as lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and those affected by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation water resource development projects.
