PUBLIC LANDS: County officials lobby Congress for payment program
Phil Taylor, E&E reporter
E&E: Friday, September 19, 2014
More than two dozen county officials flew to Washington, D.C., this week to lobby Congress and the Obama administration to extend a program that compensates counties for the taxes they can't collect from federal lands.
Payments in lieu of taxes (PILT) since 1977 have provided more than $6 billion to more than 2,000 counties. The money, which makes up for counties' lost property taxes, is a critical lifeline for many Western counties, which use it for services including trash collection, road maintenance, search-and-rescue operations and fire protection on federal lands.
The program officially expires at the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, and Congress has identified no clear path for extending it. The last extension was authorized for a year in the farm bill, but the final payment, $437 million, went out this summer.
"Without swift congressional action, communities across the country could face devastating budget shortfalls affecting important programs and services," said a statement yesterday from Matt Chase, executive director of the National Association of Counties.
NACo said it held a congressional briefing yesterday on Capitol Hill with Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Mark Udall (D-Colo.), John Walsh (D-Mont.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Reps. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.) and Chris Stewart (R-Utah).
County officials from 15 states also met with federal agencies, NACo said.
NACo yesterday also announced the launch of an online PILT "hub" that profiles 1,126 counties that receive more than $10,000 in PILT funding each. The site also offers tips for lobbying Congress and promoting a PILT extension via social media.
The House Appropriations Committee included a $442 million, one-year extension for PILT in its fiscal 2015 spending bill, but a Senate Appropriations Committee panel included no funding in its draft 2015 bill.
While the program enjoys broad, bipartisan support, the challenge is coming up with the money.
House appropriators of both parties have acknowledged drawbacks to funding PILT with discretionary dollars, noting that it siphons more than $400 million from other Interior Department, Forest Service and U.S. EPA programs (E&E Daily, July 15).
But finding an appropriate legislative vehicle to extend the program outside a spending bill poses its own challenges. The program has been funded with mandatory dollars for the past handful of years.
Lawmakers from rural states and districts will feel intense constituent pressure in the coming months to find a solution.
