“Federal PILT funding is critical to California’s rural counties, as counties deliver numerous services to support the public lands within our boundaries,” said Nate Beason, RCRC Chair and Nevada County Supervisor. “Congress must fund PILT before the end of the year to ensure that various services such as trash collection, road maintenance, search-and-rescue, and fire protection services are adequately funded. The PILT program helps to make those services possible, and allow us to enjoy our public lands safely.”
Without PILT funding, counties and local property owners would be burdened with funding vital public services related to federal public lands beyond the means of the local tax base.
Federal PILT provides more than $45 million to 56 California counties and other local governments annually to offset forgone tax revenues due to the presence of substantial acreage of federal land in their jurisdictions. Despite not being able to collect property taxes on federal lands, county governments still provide important services for their residents and visitors to public lands, including solid waste disposal, law enforcement, road and bridge upkeep, and emergency medical services.
In September, NACo held a briefing with a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Capitol Hill and launched an online action center with national and county-specific information about the Federal PILT program. The online hub features detailed profiles for the 1,126 individual counties that receive more than $10,000 of Federal PILT funding, key facts and data points and tips for spreading the word via social media.
For more information, visit http://www.naco.org/PILT.
