Millions at stake for counties

The Washington County commissioners approved salary increases and an increase in the 2014 general fund budget on Thursday, but warned they could be facing major budget constraints depending on how Congress shapes a proposed federal budget agreement. An Interior Department program called Payments in Lieu of Taxes was established in 1976 as a way for rural counties and other local governments to offset the loss of tax revenue that comes with having large areas of non-taxable federal land within their borders. In Utah, where nearly 60 percent of the state is federally owned, the payments have been an essential part of county budgets, helping to fund law enforcement, roads and a number of other services. Nearly $9 million went to the five-county area in southwestern Utah this year. But with the end of the year approaching, local officials are getting uneasy about the program’s future. Congress hasn’t acted on payments due for the 2014 fiscal year, and while PILT is listed as a priority in the bipartisan budget agreement now awaiting President Barack Obama’s signature, Congressional appropriators would still have to actually fund the programs. The PILT program represents only a small fraction of the federal project — about $425 million is the projected spending for 2014 — but officials say it is significant for smaller governments. The federal government authorized $421.7 million in PILT payments nationwide for 2013, an amount reduced by $21.5 million due to sequestration. Most of the funding goes to smaller governments in the West...more

Has PILT ever been fully funded?

As the Obama adm. limits energy production on federal land, revenues decline causing more pressure to cut spending - like for PILT.

The best answer is to transfer these lands so they can either be managed or taxed by the states.