U.S. Department of the Interior announced more than $549 million for 1,900 state and local governments in Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) funds.
The funds will "defray the costs associated with maintaining important community services" because federal lands cannot be taxed, according to a June 23 Department of the Interior news release.
"This program is an important example of the federal government's commitment to continuing to be a good neighbor to the communities we serve," Secretary Deb Haaland said in the news release. "The nearly $550 million being distributed will help local governments carry out vital services, such as firefighting and police protection, construction of public schools and roads and search-and-rescue operations."
DOI issues the PILT payments on tax-exempt federal lands that are administered by the department's agencies, according to the news release. These agencies include Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation and the National Park Service. PILT payments also are issued for federal lands administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Forest Service and the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission.
"Payments are calculated based on the number of acres of federal land within each county or jurisdiction and the population of that county or jurisdiction," the news release said.
The program began in 1977, and DOI has since distributed almost $10.8 billion to governments in U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. DOI collects more than $12.1 billion in annual revenue from commercial activities on public lands. DOI shares a portion of those revenues with state and local governments and deposits the rest into the U.S. Treasury, which then uses the revenues for "a broad array of federal activities, including PILT funding, the news release said.
Anyone who would like more information may visit the PILT payments website.
