By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Juab County has agreed to continue to support NACo, the
National Association of Counties, through UAC, the Utah
Association of Counties, by paying an assessment.
The Western Interstate Region (WIR) has been fighting,
among other things, for an increase in the Payment In Lieu
of Taxes (PILT) program.
The Western Interstate Region is affiliated with the
National Association of Counties and is dedicated to the
promotion of Western interests within NACo.
Juab County was assessed $152.44 as their part of the
$4,065 UAC was assessed.
"I can live with that assessment," said Robert Steele,
commissioner.
In another move, that will not take money from any
pre-budgeted account, commissioners voted to take the
assessment from the commissioner's contingency fund.
The money will be paid to the Western Interstate Region
Trust Fund Assessment.
PILT compensates local governments for losses to their
tax base when the federal government occupies land within
their boundaries, such as a National Forest or Park.
When the Federal Government occupies land in this way,
there are fewer acres that municipalities are able to assess
in order to raise revenues for local programs.
PILT is an attempt to compensate these local governments
for lost tax revenue, but the problem has been hobbled by
chronic underfunding.
More than 70 percent of Juab County is owned by the
federal and state governments. Those lands are held in
national and state parks.
"We depend on PILT funding for pay for many of the county
services," said Wm. Boyd Howarth, commission chair.
Like local property taxes, PILT payments are used to pay
for school budgets, law enforcement, search and rescue, fire
fighting, parks and recreation, and other municipal
expenses.
The PILT program was established to address the fact that
the Federal Government does not pay taxes on the land that
it owns.
These Federal lands can include national forests,
national parks, Fish and Wildlife refuges, and land owned by
the Bureau of Land Management.
He noted the National Association of Counties, which
endorsed such legislation as an amendment introduced by
Congressman Bernie Sanders (I VT), in July 14, 1999.
NACo has called the current PILT program "a major
unfunded mandate."
At the time, Sanders addressed Congress and said that
unfunded mandates are an issue.
He said as a result of the government underfunding PILT
payments they had forced citizens in close to 1,800 counties
and 49 States to pay more in local property taxes than they
should because the Federal Government has fallen very far
behind in its payment in lieu of taxes on federally owned
land.
"In other words, the Federal Government is not paying its
fair share and is doing a disservice to local communities
all over this country," said Sanders.
In real dollars, inflation-accounted-for dollars, PILT
payments to counties and towns all across this Nation have
been decreasing for a very long time, he said.
"In real dollars since 1980, appropriations for payments
in lieu of taxes have decreased by nearly $60 million, a
37-percent decline in value," said Sanders.
"In recent years in this body, there has been a lot of
talk about devolution, a lot of talk about fiscal
responsibility, a lot of talk about respect for counties,
towns and cities. And yet what we are saying after all of
that talk is, gee, we do not have to pay our bills. We talk
about respecting local governments, but yet we do not have
to own up to the fact that we owe them substantial sums of
money."
Sanders said current PILT payments meet less than half
the total funds authorized by the federal government, and
payments have declined by thirty-seven percent, in real
dollars, since 1980.
WIR interests include public land issues (use and
conservation), community stability and economic development,
and the promotion of the traditional Western way of life.
Its membership consists of fifteen Western states, (AK, HI,
WA, OR, CA, ID, NV, AZ, MT, WY, CO, NM, UT, ND, SD) with
membership funded through the individual state
associations.
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