Oregon counties to get record $36.9 million from feds

Representative Greg Walden, R-Ore., applauded word Wednesday of a record $36.9 million in funding under the 2018 Payments in Lieu of Taxes program to support essential services in rural Oregon.

The payments will be made to all 36 counties in Oregon, and represent the largest amount ever allocated in the 40-year history of the PILT program, Walden said

“These funds are welcome news for rural communities across our state. I worked with my colleagues in the House to fully fund this program that is part of the federal government’s obligation to our rural counties,” Walden said.

“With the majority of Oregon’s land managed by the federal government, these funds, along with Secure Rural Schools funds and timber receipts, help ensure our communities have well-functioning schools, law enforcement, and infrastructure. I applaud President Trump and Secretary Zinke for prioritizing this critical funding, and look forward to continuing to work alongside the Administration to improve the management of our public lands and provide Oregon’s rural communities with the support they need.”

In the government funding measure that was signed into law in March, Walden secured $530 million in full funding for PILT, which counties in rural Oregon rely on. PILT program eligibility is reserved for local governments that contain non-taxable Federal lands within their boundaries. These jurisdictions provide significant support for national parks, wildlife refuges, and recreation areas throughout the year. PILT seeks to compensate local governments for the inability to collect property taxes on Federally-owned land.

A full list of 2018 PILT funding by county in Oregon’s Second Congressional District is included below:

BAKER COUNTY

$1,627,967

CROOK COUNTY

$2,171,455

DESCHUTES COUNTY

$3,033,303

GILLIAM COUNTY

$93,655

GRANT COUNTY

$923,833

HARNEY COUNTY

$1,125,267

HOOD RIVER COUNTY

$414,289

JACKSON COUNTY

$1,864,853

JEFFERSON COUNTY

$722,788

JOSEPHINE COUNTY

$1,835,498

KLAMATH COUNTY

$3,109,349

LAKE COUNTY

$1,193,532

MALHEUR COUNTY

$2,642,870

MORROW COUNTY

$376,464

SHERMAN COUNTY

$145,050

UMATILLA COUNTY

$1,057,363

UNION COUNTY

$1,603,772

WALLOWA COUNTY

$1,053,433

WASCO COUNTY

$443,945

WHEELER COUNTY

$213,405

By comparison, Oregon received $19.65 million in PILT payments last year and Deschutes County’s share was $2.29 million. Crook County received $971,490 and Jefferson County received $412,308.

Today’s announcement comes as Walden recently secured important forest management reforms into law, including:

3,000 acre categorical exclusion for wildfire resiliency and hazardous fuels reduction projects. 10-year fire borrowing fix, to help end the vicious cycle of depleting resources for fire prevention to pay for fire suppression, which increases the risk of catastrophic wildfires year after year. Expanding Healthy Forest Restoration Act authority for fuel and fire break projects. Give the Forest Service and BLM the ability to offer stewardship contracts with a 20 year term. Expanding “Good Neighbor Policy” to help states with road maintenance, culverts, and other similar projects on Forest Service land.

Last week, the House of Representatives passed the 2018 Farm Bill with Walden’s strong support, making important progress to improve federal forest policy. The 2018 Farm Bill includes 10 categorical exclusions and reauthorizes the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program, which is used to increase timber management in central, southern and eastern Oregon.

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Interior Department news release:

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced today that over 1,900 local governments around the country will receive $552.8 million in Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) funding for 2018. This is the largest amount ever allocated in the program’s 40-year history. This continues to underscore the Trump Administration’s commitment to local communities. A full list of funding by state and county is available at www.doi.gov/pilt.

“As a kid who grew up in northwest Montana and whose sons graduated from the same high school as I did, I know how important PILT payments are to local communities that have federal lands. These investments are one of the ways the federal government is fulfilling its role of being a good land manager and good neighbor to local communities,” Zinke said.

“Rural America, especially states out west with large federal land holdings, play a big part in feeding and powering the nation and also in providing recreation opportunities, but because the lands are federal, the local governments don’t earn revenue from them. PILT investments often serve as critical support for local communities as they juggle planning and paying for basic services, such as public safety, firefighting, social services, and transportation.”

PILT payments are federal payments to local governments that help offset losses in property taxes due to non-taxable federal lands within their boundaries. PILT payments help local governments carry out such vital services as firefighting and police protection, construction of public schools and roads, and search-and-rescue operations.

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

PILT payments are one of the ways the federal government can fulfill its role of being a good neighbor to local communities.

Using a formula provided by statute, the annual PILT payments to local governments are computed based on the number of acres of federal land within each county or jurisdiction and the population of that county or jurisdiction.

Since PILT payments began in 1977, Interior has distributed approximately $8.5 billion to states and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The department collects more than $9.6 billion in revenue annually from commercial activities on public lands, such as oil and gas leasing, livestock grazing and timber harvesting. A portion of these revenues is shared with states and counties. The balance is deposited in the U.S. Treasury, which in turn pays for a broad array of federal activities, including PILT funding.

Individual county payments may vary from year to year as a result of changes in acreage data, which is updated yearly by the federal agency administering the land; prior year Federal Revenue Sharing payments reported yearly by the Governor of each State; and population data, which is updated using information from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Federal Revenue Sharing payments are made to local governments under programs other than PILT during the previous fiscal year, including payments such as those made under the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, the Refuge Revenue Sharing Fund, the National Forest Fund, the Taylor Grazing Act, the Mineral Leasing Act, the Federal Power Act, and the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000, when authorized.