Federal payment in lieu of taxes funding is assured for 2014 with the passage of the farm bill in the Senate on Feb. 4.
Since PILT was first authorized in 1977, the federal government has allocated funding to counties to partially compensate for property tax loss on non-taxable federal lands within their borders.
After the failed effort to include PILT funding in the $1 trillion omnibus spending bill Congress passed in January, western counties were left wondering whether the feds would live up to the PILT commitment.
Nevada U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei said House Speaker John Boehner assured western congressmen that including PILT in the Farm Bill was the next-fastest way to get PILT authorization.
PILT's inclusion in the long-debated five-year authorization Farm Bill was not without controversy. The massive five-year Farm Bill includes nearly $1 trillion for food stamps and school lunches, farm subsidies, and conservation programs.
U.S. Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev) said PILT's inclusion in the Farm Bill was "a bone they threw out there to try and get western senators to vote for it." Heller said although he fully supports PILT funding, he voted against the Farm Bill with the single year PILT authorization.
"Any time the Senate is considering a massive piece of legislation that expands government and costs American taxpayers nearly $1 trillion, every lawmaker must determine if the good outweighs the bad," said Heller.
Heller has co-sponsored legislation with Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) to permanently authorize PILT.
On the House side, Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev) has sponsored a resolution that would fund PILT permanently.
"The federal government must
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do more for Nevada's rural counties than provide PILT funding piece by piece, from year to year." said Heller. "Nevada's rural counties should be able to depend on these resources every year without controversy and should not be held hostage to an unstable budget process. PILT is not a discretionary fund to be used for other purposes; it is an obligation the federal government has to any county with public lands."
U.S. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev) supported PILT's one-year extension in the farm bill and said he wants to see PILT's continued funding in the years to come.
Nevada is joined by other western states in working for permanent full-funding for PILT.
"It's a matter of education," said Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso. Although PILT funding goes to counties in 49 states, for many of those states, PILT amounts to just a few hundred dollars.
There are those who think PILT amounts to "welfare for the West," said Amodei.
"We're 85 percent owned by the federal government and the $23 million Nevada gets a year in PILT amounts to a tax of about 50 cents an acre. If it was welfare, it would have to be a whole lot more."
Amodei said the PILT discussion could be much simpler.
"If the federal government doesn't want to pay PILT, we can just go to the counties and exchange the amount of PILT funding for land," he said. "We would much rather have the land."
This years' PILT funding level is about 90 percent of the total. Heller acknowledged that, even at full funding, the current PILT payments don't come close to compensating western states and counties for lost property taxes on the vast swaths of non-taxable federal land.
"I'll bet you it's 24 cents on the dollar for what the land is worth in taxes," said Heller. "PILT is not a good solution, but it's the only solution we have as of today."
In 2013, Nevada ranked second, behind Alaska, in the number of acres of federal land; however, Nevada ranked 10th in the amount of PILT funding.
Nevada Legislative Counsel Bureau researcher Jennifer Ruedy noted the irony of the PILT formula (which is, in part, population driven) is that counties with the most federal land typically have the smallest populations and don't receive the largest payments.[[In-content Ad]]By Joyce Sheen
The Battle Mountain Bugle
Authorization of payments for non-taxable federal lands was met with a collective sigh of budgetary relief from counties in Nevada and across the West.
Former Finance Director Rogene Hill, who is training new director Nan Ancho, said the fiscal year 2013 payment in lieu of taxes payment came in at $911,561 last June and she has to wait until this June to see what the next payment will be. The money goes into the Culture and Recreation Fund to pay for the pool, the library, the golf course, parks and the cemetery.
Each year, Hill has to guestimate the amount of PILT money the county will receive. She usually lowballs it, she said. Last year, she guessed around $700,00 and for this upcoming budget she will be filling in the blank with about $455,000.
PILT funding partially compensates counties for non-taxable federal land within their boundaries. Forty-nine states receive some PILT funding but in the West, where the federal government owns huge tracts of land, that funding is essential to provide government services including road construction and maintenance, law enforcement, and emergency services.
PILT has been called an unreliable funding source because its authorization and funding is uncertain from year to year.
"This is an issue where the government owes us," said Commissioner Patsy Waits. "It is not a grant or bonus to the recipients. It is part of the law and they should meet these obligations. County and local governments depend on it."
Waits said she was more than a little bit concerned when the FY 2014 Omnibus Appropriations Bill was passed and PILT funding was not included.
"For decades the payment in lieu of taxes program has provided counties and local governments with funding to help meet critical community needs and services on public lands such as law enforcement, search and rescue, firefighting and emergency medical services," she said. "I am still uncertain why the congressional leadership and House and Senate appropriators made the decision to exclude PILT from the bill but sure the resulting outcry ... was the reason it actually received the funding through the Farm Bill."
Other commissioners declined to comment.
