Counties To Receive PILT Funds
Montana’s counties will receive $36.2 million in Payment In Lieu of Taxes funds during fiscal year 2021. Roosevelt County commissioners said they use the funds they receive to put into their general fund.
Roosevelt County’s payment in 2020 was $1,713 and $1,670 in 2019.
PILT program eligibility is reserved for local governments, mostly rural counties, that contain nontaxable federal lands and provide vital services, such as public safety, housing, social services and transportation. Those jurisdictions provide significant support for national parks, wildlife refuges and recreation areas throughout the year. PILT seeks to compensate local governments for their support and foregoing tax revenue from these federal lands.
PILT makes payments in counties with large amount of untaxable federal lands for services like law enforcement, mental health programs and libraries.
Roosevelt County Commissioner Gordon Oelkers noted that both the Montana Association of Counties and the National Association of Counties have been working hard to make sure that countries receive complete funding this year.
“PILT funding is critical for counties across our state that rely on it to provide important services they otherwise would not be able to afford,” U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said in a press release. “I fought to secure this funding to help Montana counties rebuild schools, plow the roads, keep law enforcement officers on the beat, and perform other duties critical to rural Montana. I will keep pushing to make sure those resources continue to be there so folks across the state can count on having the services they need to thrive.”
The amount of eligible acres for Roosevelt County according to the PILT program is 4,284 acres.
Payments received from other northeastern Montana counties include Phillips with $536,765, Richland with $21,124 and Valley with $1,095,683.
Among the largest payments in the state were Flathead at $2,844,552, Lewis and Clark at $2,605,277, Ravalli at $2,537,051 and Missoula at $1,987,020.
