WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Oregon will receive a total of $19.7 million in Payments In Lieu of Taxes – also known as “PILT” – from the U.S. Department of the Interior. Deschutes County is set to receive nearly $3 million ($2,292,489), Crook County will get almost a million dollars ($971,490) and $412,308 is going to Jefferson County.
The payments are part of a record $464.6 million dollars distributed across the country, this year; it’s the largest amount allocated in the PILT program’s 40-year history.
The federal payments are meant to help local communities offset losses on property taxes from non-taxable federal lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service and for federal water projects and some military installations.
In a statement, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said, "Rural America, especially states out west with large federal land holdings, play a big part in feeding and powering the nation and also in providing recreation opportunities, but because the lands are federal, the local governments don't earn tax revenue from them. PILT investments often serve as critical support for local communities as they juggle planning and paying for basic services, such as public safety, firefighting, social services and transportation."
