N E W S
| June 17, 2003 |
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| WASHINGTON, DC - Montana Congressman, Denny Rehberg, (R) today announced the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management has released payments to counties in Montana totaling $16,874,448, authorized by the Payments-In-Lieu-of-Taxes (PILT) Act for fiscal year 2003. The annual payments are made to coincide with local governments whose fiscal years begin on July 1. “This federal compensation is critical to Montana counties, which encompass a substantial amount of federal acreage that cannot be tapped for local tax revenues,” Rehberg said. “These funds will go a long way toward making up for that loss of potential revenue, furnishing county officials with additional proceeds for maintaining vital local services." Since 1977, annual Payments-in-Lieu-of-Taxes have served as compensation to Montana’s counties, offsetting property taxes that cannot be levied on the nontaxable federal lands within their boundaries. The annual recompense, calculated on the amount of federal entitlement acreage within each county, helps Montana’s county governments maintain local services, such as housing, public safety, social services, and transportation. I’m pleased to see statewide, Montana’s counties this fiscal year will receive a total of $16,874,448,” Rehberg said, “a 4.4% increase over last year’s amount.” In Montana, three counties will receive over a million dollars in payments, including Ravalli ($1,371,653), Lewis and Clark ($1,251,357), and Flathead ($1,094,835 |
