Lowndes and Clay counties will be among more than 1,850 local governments to receive funds under the 2012 Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program.
A total of $393 million will be distributed under the program to benefit local governments, usually rural, containing nontaxable federal lands and which provide government services, like public safety services, housing, social and transportation services.
Lowndes County will receive $19,511 for 7,907 acres of federal land and Clay County will receive $8,531 for 3,457 acres.
Lowndes and Clay officials have yet to be contacted about the program and have not determined how the money will be used.
“Too often rural communities have been forgotten by the policies of Washington, D.C., but President Obama has made job creation and opportunity in rural areas a top priority for his administration,” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. “Over the last three years, we have fought for and delivered on the promise that the federal government should compensate local governments for lost tax revenue from federal lands, so that they can provide essential public services, such as police, fire protection and emergency response programs.
“It is hard to overstate the impact of PILT funding for rural counties in particular, where these investments can make the difference in keeping a search and rescue crew on the job or a teacher in the classroom,” added Salazar. “It is a program we firmly believe should be extended, and we hope Congress will take the action that’s needed.”
The 2012 PILT program is the last to be funded under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, which enacted a five-year authorization for funding full entitlement levels of the program, but the 2013 budget proposes a one-year extension of the program.
The Interior Department collects about $16 billion annually in revenue from commercial activities — such as oil and gas leasing, livestock grazing and timber harvesting — on federal lands. A portion of these revenues are shared with states and counties and the balance is deposited in the U.S. Treasury, which pays for federal activities, including PILT funding to counties.
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