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Senators encourage providing full funding
for rural county program |
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November 22, 2015 |
 Idaho
Senator Mike Crapo has teamed with Colorado
Democrat Michael Bennett to spearhead a
coalition of senators who sent a letter to
senate leadership recommending full funding for
the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program in
any end-of-year legislation.
Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) provide federal
payments to nearly 1,900 local governments
across 49 states to help offset losses in
property taxes because of nontaxable federal
land within state boundaries.
In Boundary County, for example, there are a
total of 475,236 federally-controlled acres in
our county, which represents close to 75% of
Boundary County's total area.
In the past, Boundary County has received around
$360,000 per year in recent years when PILT
funds have been made available to counties. All
of the PILT funds received by Boundary County go
directly into the County's Justice Fund, used to
fund several departments, but which mainly helps
fund the Sheriff's Office.
“PILT funding is an important resource for many
counties in Idaho and across our nation and is
not exclusive to rural or western communities,”
said Senator Crapo. “The strong showing of
bipartisan senators on this letter is evidence
that PILT payments are critical to communities
nationwide. I look forward to working with all
my colleagues to restore funding to this
important program in a fiscally-responsible
manner.”
The letter authored by Senators Crapo and
Bennett was sent last Friday to Mitch McConnell,
Senate Majority Leader, and Harry Reid, Senate
Minority Leader. The letter was signed by 15
additional republican senators, and 20
democrats, including Idaho Senator Jim Risch and
Washington Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty
Murray.
In the letter, the senators requested that
"Congress include full funding for the Payments
in Lieu of Taxes program for FY16 along with
responsible budget offsets in any legislation
likely to pass the House and Senate and be
signed into law before the end of the year."
The letter went on to say, "PILT provides
critical resources to nearly 1,900 counties
across 49 states to offset lost property tax
revenue due to the presence of tax-exempt
federal lands within their jurisdictions.
Without full funding for the PILT program before
the end of the year, counties across the nation
will be unable to provide essential services
such as education, law enforcement, search and
rescue, road maintenance and public health to
residents and millions of federal lands visitors
alike.
"Congress can work together to enact a fiscally
responsible long-term sustainable solution to
fully fund this important program and eliminate
the ongoing funding uncertainty PILT counties
face. However, as the end of the year
approaches, enacting full-funding for PILT in FY
2016 is essential in order to provide counties
with the certainty they need to plan their own
budgets and continue providing essential county
services."
Last year, PILT funding was not authorized by
Congress for fiscal year 2015 until late in
2014, in mid-December. |
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