Pilt Payments Made

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The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sent payments for 1999 totaling $125 million to approximately 1,977 local government units across the United States in accordance with the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) Act. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt announced that this year's payment is nearly $6 million more than last year's total, which was $119 million.

The BLM, an agency of the Interior Department, distributes the PILT payments to eligible units of local governments each year. The payments are intended to offset the loss of tax revenue to States and localities caused by the presence of tax-exempt Federal land within their jurisdictions.

BLM Acting Director Tom Fry said that PILT carries out an especially important role for the BLM, which manages more land than any other Federal agency. "PILT is one of the ways that the Federal Government can fulfill its responsibilities to communities throughout the West," said BLM Deputy Director Tom Fry. "Through these payments, local governments carry out such vital services as fire fighting and police protection; construction of public schools and roads."

The annual PILT payments are made for tax-exempt Federal lands administered by the BLM, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (all agencies of the Interior Department), the U.S. Forest Service (part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture), and for Federal water projects and some military installations.

Congress appropriates PILT payments each year. The BLM allocates according to a formula in the PILT Act that includes population and the amount of Federal land within an affected county. These payments are in addition to other Federal revenues (such as, livestock grazing, and timber harvesting) that the Federal Government transfers to the counties. The BLM has distributed more than two billion dollars in PILT payments to local governments since these payments began in 1977.

All States (except Rhode Island)&emdash;plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands&emdash;are receiving PILT funds for Fiscal Year 1999, which ends September 30. The States with counties that collectively receive the largest amounts are: California, $12,789,337; New Mexico, $11,597,427; Arizona, $10,275,296; Montana, $9,846,022; Utah, $9,783,359; Colorado, 9,294,770; and Alaska, $8,734,619.