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Last updated: 04/04/03

Contact:  Patrice Junius, (202) 452-5137
For Immediate Release: September 25, 1998

BLM Distributes Almost $119 Million in "PILT" Checks to Local Governments for Tax-Exempt Lands

Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt today announced that the Interior Department has sent payments for 1998 totaling almost $119 million to 2,327 local government units across the United States in accordance with the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) Act. This year's PILT payment is nearly $6 million more than last year's total, which was $113 million.

The Bureau of Land Management, 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.

"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," said BLM Director Pat Shea. "These payments are one of the ways that the Federal Government can fulfill its role of being a good neighbor to local communities. This is an especially important role for the BLM, which manages more land than any other Federal agency."

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, oil and gas leasing, livestock grazing, and timber harvesting) that the Federal Government transfers to the States. 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) -- plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands -- are receiving PILT funds for Fiscal Year 1998, which ends September 30. The States with counties that collectively receive the largest amounts are: New Mexico, $11,375,334; California, $12,001,299; Arizona, $10,033,602; Utah, $9,477,033; Montana, $9,345,804; Idaho, $8,024,068; and Alaska, $8,067,394.

Below is the complete list of 1998 PILT payments by State:

See also the breakdown of 1998 PILT payments by county.

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