For release: Thursday, September 20, 2001
Contacts: 
Sharon Wilson, 202. 452.5130
Bill Howell, 202.452.7721
Sheri Bell, 303.239.3670

BLM Distributes Over $199 Million in PILT Checks to Local Governments for Tax-Exempt Lands Colorado Receives $5 Million More than Last Year

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will send just over $199 million on September 20, to approximately 1,900 local governments across the United States in accordance with the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) Act. Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton announced this year=s payment is $65 million more than last year=s payment. Colorado will receive $15,240,782, nearly $5 million more than last year.

PILT payments offset the loss of tax revenue to localities caused by the presence of tax-exempt federal land within their jurisdictions. According to Acting BLM Director Nina Hatfield, the PILT payments are important to the economic well-being of communities. APILT payments help fund vital community services, such as firefighting and police protection, and construction of hospitals and public schools,@ Hatfield said. BLM has distributed more than $2.7 billion in PILT payments to local governments since the program=s inception in 1977.

BLM distributes the congressionally appropriated PILT payments to eligible units of local governments across the nation and its territories each year. Payments are made for tax-exempt federal lands in the National Park and National Forest systems, federal lands administered by BLM, lands dedicated to federal water resources development projects, and lands withdrawn from the public domain in other categories.

BLM calculates the payments using the PILT Act formula, based on population and the amount of federal land within an affected county or census area. These payments are in addition to federal revenues transferred to the counties under other programs, such as income generated from use of federal land for livestock grazing and timber harvesting.

All states except Rhode Island, which has minimal federal land, are receiving PILT funds for fiscal year 2001, which ends September 30. The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands also receive PILT payments. The states with counties that collectively receive the largest amounts this year are: California: $20,899,051; New Mexico: $18,029,532; Alaska: $13,341,403; Montana: $15,713,745; Utah: $15,352,775; and Colorado: $15,240,782. More in- depth information may be obtained from BLM=s website at http://www.blm.gov/pilt.

The distribution of fiscal year 2001 PILT payments is:

Alabama $704,351

Alaska $13,341,403

Arizona $16,057,080

Arkansas $2,445,372

California $20,899,051

Colorado $15,240,782

Connecticut $20,318

Delaware $2,233

District of Columbia $9,866

Florida $2,796,719

Georgia $1,466,196

Guam $1,887

Hawaii $22,752

Idaho $13,451,102

Illinois $517,984

Indiana $354,285

Iowa $203,417

Kansas $512,369

Kentucky $1,379,100

Louisiana $246,555

Maine $153,244

Maryland $77,781

Massachusetts $62,023

Michigan $1,971,722

Minnesota $1,166,455

Mississippi $767,308

Missouri $1,969,669

Montana $15,713,745

Nebraska $538,142

Nevada $10,956,327

New Hampshire $799,882

New Jersey $56,375

New Mexico $18,029,532

New York $75,051

North Carolina $1,936,015

North Dakota $906,369

Ohio $450,905

Oklahoma $1,253,232

Oregon $6,886,106

Pennsylvania $371,794

Puerto Rico $33,572

Rhode Island $0

South Carolina $229,691

South Dakota $2,263,384

Tennessee $1,110,152

Texas $2,382,330

Utah $15,352,775

Vermont $398,816

Virgin Islands $27,315

Virginia $1,920,836

Washington $6,559,026

West Virginia $1,340,900

Wisconsin $1,533,668

Wyoming $12,193,916

Total $199,160,880

The following is a county-by-county breakdown of Colorado's 2000 and 2001 PILT payments. 

The BLM, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, manages more land C 264 million surface acres C than any other federal agency. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), which gave the BLM its comprehensive mission to manage the public lands for a variety of uses so as to benefit present and future generations. The BLM accomplishes this by managing for such resources as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing and mineral development, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on the public lands. Most of the country's BLM-managed public land is located in 12 western states, including Alaska. These lands, once remote, now provide the growing communities of the West with open space that gives the region much of its character. The Bureau, which has a budget of $1.8 billion and a workforce of about 9,000 employees, also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the Nation.

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