craigdailypress.com

Two Colorado congressmen are sponsoring a bill that would guarantee Western states receive the full funding that they are allotted by the Bureau of Land Management's payment in lieu of taxes program.

Known as PILT, the program provides federal funds to counties to offset property-tax losses on federal lands within the counties. Federal lands cannot be taxed.

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa, and Rep. Mark Udall, D-Boulder, would require Congress to fully fund PILT payments. Since the program's creation in 1976, PILT never has been fully funded. The federal budget proposal includes a 12 percent cut to PILT.

"Our rural counties depend on PILT funding to make up for lost tax revenue," Salazar said.

"The $30 million proposed budget cut will devastate local schools, fire departments and law enforcement agencies. We must keep our promises and make sure that rural Colorado gets its fair share of federal dollars. This bill will make sure that the counties get the monies they were promised."

But even if their legislation, which is being considered by the House Resources Committee, is approved by Congress, Moffat County may not be able to benefit at this time.

Moffat County received a PILT payment of a little more than $317,000 last year. It was one of the lower PILT payments in the state.

Payments are determined by an equation based on the number of federal acres within a county and by the county's population. With 1.6 million acres of public land, Moffat County has some of the most federal land of any county in the state. But it also has a smaller population.

"We have the largest amount of acreage, but we get 1.8 percent of the total dollars," Moffat County Financial Analyst Tinneal Gerber said.

But other factors also influence the amount of PILT payments that counties receive. PILT payments are based on what Congress decides to allocate to the program each year. Funds that counties receive from federal mineral leasing are subtracted from the PILT payment.

That last part is the rub for Moffat County and its taxing districts -- Moffat County School District and Craig Rural Fire Protection District, among others -- that receive PILT funds.

This year, the county will receive $660,000 from the federal government as the county's share of federal leases, Gerber said. That means the county's PILT payment will be capped at about $300,000, she said.

This means that even if Salazar's and Udall's legislation is successful, it is doubtful the county's PILT payment will increase. Indeed, the county's payment only can go down, and it will if Congress approves the 12 percent reduction.

Udall's press secretary, Lawrence Pacheco, said there is strong bipartisan support for the bill in states that contain a large amount of federal land.

Although some legislators who don't have public land in their district sometimes struggle to understand the importance of the funding, some Western legislators are forming a coalition to fight proposed reductions and work to increase payments.

Rob Gebhart can be reached at 824-7031 or rgebhart@craigdailypress.com.