On June 23, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) announced the distribution of $549.4 million to counties in 2022 through the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program. A complete list of funding by state and county is available here.

The PILT program provides payments to counties and other local governments to offset losses in tax revenues due to the presence of substantial federal land acreage within their jurisdictions. Because local governments cannot tax the property values or products derived from federal lands, PILT payments are necessary to support essential local government services – those mandated by law – such as education, emergency services, transportation infrastructure, law enforcement and health care. PILT reaches over 1,900 counties in 49 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Since 1977, DOI has invested nearly $10.8 billion through the PILT program in counties across the country. As U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland stated in her announcement, “This program is an important example of the federal government’s commitment to continuing to be a good neighbor to the communities we serve. 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.”

Additionally, on June 20, the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies released the FY 2023 funding bill for DOI, the U.S. Forest Service, EPA and other agencies. This legislation fully funds PILT for next year by including the same one-year mandatory PILT funding language Congress has used since FY 2018. NACo worked with Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Congressman Tom O’Halleran (D-Ariz.) to secure 58 signatures on a bipartisan letter to U.S. House Appropriations Committee leaders supporting full PILT funding in FY 2023 Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) led a similar letter to the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee leadership on June 1.

NACo applauds Congress and the administration for their support of America’s public lands counties. We look forward to continuing to work with the federal government to find a long-term, sustainable solution to fully fund the PILT program for FY 2023 and into the future.