Interior Dept. Unveils $644.8M for Community Services
The Department of the Interior today announced that more than 1,900 state and local governments across the country will receive a total of $644.8 million in Payments in Lieu of Taxes program (PILT) funding for 2025. Because local governments cannot tax federal lands, annual PILT payments help defray the costs associated with maintaining important community services.
PILT payments are made for tax-exempt federal lands administered by Interior’s bureaus, including the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In addition, PILT payments cover federal lands administered by the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission. Payments are calculated based on the number of acres of federal land within each county or jurisdiction, and the population of that area.
“The Trump administration is committed to empowering local communities and ensuring that the federal government is a strong partner, not an obstacle,” said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. “PILT payments support vital services that help rural counties and towns thrive, from public safety to infrastructure and education. We recognize that local governments are the backbone of our nation, and we will continue working to support their efforts to grow local economies and serve their citizens.”
Since PILT payments began in 1977, the Department has distributed more than $12.6 billion to states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The Department collects more than $20.7 billion in revenue annually from commercial activities on public lands. A portion of those revenues is shared with states and counties. The balance is deposited into the U.S. Treasury, which in turn pays for a broad array of federal activities, including PILT payments.
Individual payments may vary from year to year as a result of changes in acreage data, which are updated annually by the federal agency administering the land; prior-year federal revenue-sharing payments reported annually by the governor of each state; and inflationary adjustments based on U.S. Census Bureau data.
A full list of funding by State and county is available on the Department’s Payments in Lieu of Taxes page.
https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/interior-department-announces-6448-million-payments-support-vital-services