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FY 2022 PILT payments released to counties, while U.S. House Interior Appropriations bill would fully fund PILT for FY 2023

By Jonathan Shuffield
NACo

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.”

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