Tuesday, the Department of the Interior announced $358.1 million of funding for 1,850 local governments as part of the Payments in Lieu of Taxes program which compensates localities for non-taxable federal land. "Although there was a slight delay in payments this year, local governments received their funds by June 29," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a news release. "We deeply appreciate the support these communities provide federal lands and disbursing this money before the counties’ fiscal year begins helps them budget for essential services, such as firefighting and emergency response, and allows for additional improvements to school, road and water systems."
Interior says it collects about $4 billion a year in revenue from commercial activities on federal lands, such as oil-and-gas leasing, livestock grazing and timber harvesting. "A portion of these revenues are shared with states and counties in the form of revenue-sharing payments," the release says. "The balance is deposited in the U.S. Treasury, which in turn pays for a broad array of federal activities, including PILT funding to counties." California led all states with just under $37 million, and Utah was second with just over $34 million. See the complete list of funding by state here and the county-by-county breakdown here.
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