Journal Staff Report

Montezuma County is receiving $112,336 in Payments in Lieu of Taxes for this year, down dramatically from the $295,139 it received in 1998.

PILT payments are made annually for tax-exempt federal lands administered by the BLM, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Forest Service, and for federal water projects and some military installations. The payments are intended to offset the loss of tax revenue to states and counties caused by the presence of tax-exempt lands within their boundaries.

The payments were sent in late September to approximately 1,977 local-government units across the United States. The total for the payments this year is nearly $125 million. The payments are sent at the end of each fiscal year on Sept. 30.

The reason Montezuma County’s PILT funds declined is that it had received more in revenues from the use of its public lands than it did in the previous year, according to Gordon Hansen of the BLM’s legislative office in Washington, D.C.

PILT payments are calculated according to a formula that factors in population and the total amount of federal acreage within the state’s or county’s jurisdiction. However, revenues received from commercial activities on public lands -- such as oil and gas extraction or timber-cutting -- are subtracted from the total.

"As that prior year’s activity goes up and down, that has an effect on the future year’s PILT payments," Hansen said. "There’s a bit of a lag because of the reporting periods."

Colorado received a total of $9.29 million in PILT monies this year, placing it sixth among states receiving the largest amounts. California led the list with $12.79 million, followed by New Mexico ($11.6 million), Arizona ($10.27 million), Montana ($9.85 million), and Utah ($9.78 million).