U.S. Department of the InteriorDOI News Header
Office of the Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 15, 2007
Contact:
Chris Paolino
202-208-6416

Local Governments to Receive $232 million in Federal Compensation for Non-Taxable Federal Lands

WASHINGTON – County governments with federal land in their jurisdictions will receive more than $232 million this year in compensation for forgone tax revenue, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced today. Under the federal Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) Program, the money is distributed to about 1,850 local governments whose jurisdictions contain tax-exempt federal lands.

"This year’s appropriation was able to maintain the level of PILT funding achieved last year, the highest funding level in history,” Kempthorne said. “We are getting these funds to local governments in a timely manner, by June 15, to help the counties plan their annual budgets. We recognize the importance of these communities in helping to support federal lands and this money will help pay for essential services, such as firefighting and emergency response and to help improve school, water, and road systems.” The Interior Department collects about $4 billion annually in revenues from commercial activities on federal lands, such as oil and gas leasing, livestock grazing and timber harvesting. A portion 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 PILT funding to counties.

Of the $232.5 million appropriated for PILT in FY2007, $232.1 million goes for payments to counties and other local governments; the balance funds the administration of the program. Payment eligibility 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.

PILT payments are calculated using a formula provided in statute. The annual PILT payments to local governments are computed based on the number of acres of federal entitlement land within each county or jurisdiction and the population. The lands include the National Forest and National Park Systems, those managed by the Bureau of Land Management, those affected by Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation water resources development projects, and others.

Individual county payments may vary from the prior year as a result of changes in acreage data, which is updated yearly by the federal agency administering the land, and population data, which is updated by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The per acre and population variables used in the formula to compute payment amounts are subject to annual inflationary adjustments using the Consumer Price Index. The requirement for annual inflationary adjustments to the per acre and population variables was included in the 1994 amendments to the Payments in Lieu of Taxes Act.

For purposes of calculating the 2007 payment, the per acre amounts are adjusted from the 2006 payment of $2.15 per acre and thirty cents per acre to $2.23 and thirty-one cents per acre. The population variables are adjusted from $57.66 - $144.13 to $59.85 - $149.61 per capita. The 2007 payment funds about 65 percent of the authorized level of $358.3 million.

The computation also adjusts the payment for the level of prior-year revenue payments and the amount that a county receives under Sections 6904 and 6905 of the PILT Act. Revenue payments are federal payments made to local governments under programs other than PILT during the previous year. These include those made under the Refuge Revenue Sharing Fund, the National Forest Fund, the Taylor Grazing Act, the Mineral Leasing Act, the Federal Power Act, and the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000. Sections 6904 and 6905 provide additional payments for additions to the National Park System and National Forest Wilderness areas.

As a result of increases in Forest Service timber payments, reductions in PILT entitlement land, a decrease in the prorating percentage and expiration of section 6904/5 payments, the total 2007 PILT payments to 37 states will be slightly lower than the 2006 payments. However, only 17 states or territories had payments that will decrease by more than one percent: Connecticut, Florida, Guam, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Virgin Islands and Wisconsin.

In addition, the FY 2007 PILT payments to Nacogdoches County, Texas and Ada County, Bannock County, Clearwater County, and Valley County, Idaho will be reduced as a result of adjustments needed to correct for incorrect acreage data reported in prior fiscal years.

The state-by-state list of PILT payments follows.

Payments in Lieu of Taxes
Fiscal Year 2007
Summary by State

STATE FY06 Payment FY07 Payment
ALABAMA 438,185 445,414
ALASKA 16,137,648 16,162,107
ARIZONA 19,023,415 19,098,223
ARKANSAS 2,581,846 2,884,413
CALIFORNIA 21,051,156 21,026,411
COLORADO 17,478,838 17,352,969
CONNECTICUT 22,838 18,214
DELAWARE 10,736 10,682
DIST. COLUMBIA 16,131 16,249
FLORIDA 2,870,056 2,799,184
GEORGIA 1,494,379 1,483,991
GUAM 1,948 1,345
HAWAII 197,612 196,857
IDAHO 16,268,552 16,588,070
ILLINOIS 651,151 648,012
INDIANA 395,041 391,672
IOWA 265,911 266,452
KANSAS 665,491 662,591
KENTUCKY 1,583,762 1,577,978
LOUISIANA 316,189 323,201
MAINE 213,273 211,807
MARYLAND 82,569 68,332
MASS. 66,383 61,909
MICHIGAN 2,684,187 2,560,255
MINNESOTA 1,589,455 1,600,297
MISSISSIPPI 906,153 901,720
MISSOURI 2,182,521 2,308,823
MONTANA 17,269,635 17,186,456
NEBRASKA 685,500 679,057
NEVADA 14,135,972 13,895,664
NEW HAMP. 1,044,016 1,037,031
NEW JERSEY 69,933 69,037
NEW MEXICO 22,808,415 22,742,930
NEW YORK 85,274 80,316
NO CAROLINA. 2,510,791 2,493,121
NO DAKOTA 946,429 929,180
OHIO 447,394 438,474
OKLAHOMA 1,631,676 1,558,142
OREGON 6,595,478 6,575,856
PENN. 365,037 338,732
PUERTO RICO 10,351 6,064
RHODE ISLAND 0 0
SO CAROLINA 263,366 241,272
SO DAKOTA 2,623,544 2,684,423
TENNESSEE 1,457,897 1,459,514
TEXAS 2,613,774 2,656,038
UTAH 20,055,933 20,057,363
VERMONT 539,793 538,572
VIR. ISLANDS 29,965 23,410
VIRGINIA 2,360,392 2,353,582
WASHINGTON 6,592,856 6,699,447
WEST VIRGINIA 1,583,700 1,574,618
WISCONSIN 1,018,512 785,551
WYOMING 15,192,700 15,362,731
Grand Total 232,133,759 232,133,759
 
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