PILT money could be lost
COEUR d'ALENE - Federal funds to compensate counties with large swaths of federally-owned and nontaxable land are in jeopardy.
A recent fiscal year 2014 omnibus spending bill in Congress didn't include such funding for rural counties, but a future Farm Bill could deliver.
In the past two years, Kootenai County has received $566,000 and $571,000 in federal Payment in Lieu of Taxes funding, money often known by the initials PILT.
In 2013, Idaho received $26.3 million to offset losses in tax revenues on federal lands.
"We are aware that PILT funding was dropped from the omnibus appropriations bill," Kootenai County Commissioner Jai Nelson said Tuesday.
Fortunately, she said, the county won't have to severely reduce or eliminate critical county services if it doesn't receive the money.
"However, I'm cautiously optimistic about PILT being funded through other means, specifically the Farm Bill," Nelson said.
She has been told by the Idaho Association of Counties that there are already some commitments to fund the PILT through the Farm Bill.
"While this is mainly a western states issue, eastern states also receive PILT funding," she said. "Therefore, I believe this funding will be addressed and I anticipate that we will receive some level of funding."
The question is whether it will be a one-year allocation or a longer-term commitment, such as four to five years, she said.
"We intend to be in touch with our congressional offices today voicing our support of the Farm Bill allocation," Nelson said.
The funds go into the county's general fund and are not specifically earmarked. The county has budgeted $560,000 for this year, Nelson said.
Idaho's U.S. Senators, Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, signed a letter late last week urging the leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee to include funding for PILT in the final Farm Bill conference report.
"Without an extension of PILT, rural counties will face drastic budget cuts in June and may struggle to fund the most basic of services," the senators wrote. "In fact, some of these counties may be faced with potential insolvency."
According to a Jan. 16 press release from Risch's office, Democratic Sens. Patty Murray, of Washington, and Jon Tester, of Montana, also signed the letter.
According to the National Association of Counties, the loss of PILT funding would affect such county services as fire and emergency medical care, search and rescue, public health, law enforcement and justice operations.
"We are deeply concerned that Congress would turn its back on more than 1,850 counties impacted by the presence of the U.S. government's extensive holdings of public land," said Matt Chase, executive director of the association.