Letter with colleagues urges House leaders to fully fund PILT program
WASHINGTON – April 1, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., is one of four representatives leading a congressional push to secure funding for a program that ensures Arizona’s rural counties have the resources to fund firefighting, law enforcement, school construction and roads.
Kirkpatrick, along with Reps. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., Chris Stewart, R-Utah, and Jared Polis, D-Colo., penned a letter – cosigned by 100 members of Congress – urging Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to secure full funding for the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program for Fiscal Year 2016 and beyond. (see below for PDF of letter)
Rural counties rely on PILT payments because they suffer losses in property taxes due to nontaxable federal land within their jurisdictions. In FY 2013, Arizona received $32 million in PILT payments, with more than $13 million going to the First Congressional District.
PILT funds are set to expire on Sept. 30 if no action is taken. As Kirkpatrick and her colleagues wrote, “The PILT program is essential to provide our counties with the certainty they need to plan their own 2016 budgets.” In her previous term, Kirkpatrick introduced legislation that would permanently authorize PILT so that county governments could have more stability in planning their budgets.
Matthew Chase, Executive Director of the National Association of Counties, said the following about the congressional letter: “We welcome this letter demonstrating overwhelming bipartisan support for the PILT program and the 62 percent of counties that have federal public lands within their boundaries. We extend our thanks to Representatives Duffy, Stewart, Polis and Kirkpatrick and their colleagues who joined them in this effort. We will continue to work with House and Senate leaders to ensure full, long-term funding for the PILT program and the many essential county services to federal public lands that it supports.”
