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Crapo, Risch work to save PILT funding
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May 15, 2012 |
Idaho Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch have
sent a letter to the Senate conferees of the
transportation conference committee, urging them
to keep the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) and
county payment programs in the final version of
the legislation.
The letter, which was signed by Oregon Senator
Ron Wyden and 24 other senators, stresses the
critical need the program fills for counties
with large tracts of federal lands and that
inaction may result in layoffs to teachers, road
crews, police officers and other county
employees.
A one-year extension of PILT and county payments
(known officially as the Secure Rural Schools
and Community Self-Determination Act) was
included in the Senate version of the
transportation bill via an amendment
co-sponsored by Crapo and Risch. The amendment
was agreed to by an overwhelming 82-16 vote. A
similar provision, however, was not included in
the House version of the bill.
“Without this funding, counties’ budgets are
facing drastic cuts, and potential insolvency;”
the senators wrote in the letter, “and this
legislation provides the last opportunity to
pass an extension before layoffs take place and
are made permanent for road crews, teachers, and
other county workers across rural America.”
The county payments program, as well as the
Payment in Lieu of Taxes program, reflects the
promise made by the federal government to
provide financial assistance to counties that
have large amounts of federally-owned land. For
those counties, that land cannot be used as an
economic asset and represents losses to
potential property tax revenue.
County payments and PILT are a lifeline to rural
counties and failure to reauthorize could result
in 11,000 job losses, $1.37 billion in lost
business revenue and $1.88 billion in lost tax
receipts next year. |
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