WASHINGTON
- U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich today announced counties in New Mexico will receive approximately $34 million through the 2013 Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program. A full list of the funding by county is included below.
PILT is administered through the Department of the Interior and provides funding for mostly rural counties that have a limited ability to levy taxes due to the amount of federal property in their jurisdiction, including Bureau of Land Management land, national parks and forests and military bases. PILT funding is used to provide vital police and fire services and also goes towards local schools, housing and transportation.
"PILT payments are important to New Mexico and I'm glad to see these payments continue for our rural communities," Udall said. "As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee I will be doing everything I can to ensure PILT is fully funded into the future so our county governments can continue providing critical services to their residents."
"PILT funding helps maintain the economic strength of our rural communities by providing safer roads, better schools, and thousands of local jobs," Heinrich said. "While New Mexico's share of PILT funding would have been higher without sequestration, I am pleased this program is helping counties provide critical services on which New Mexicans rely."
The President's fiscal year 2014 budget proposes to extend mandatory full funding for the PILT for another year while a sustainable long-term funding solution is developed. Udall was a cosponsor of the County Payments Reauthorization Act of 2011, a bipartisan bill led by former Senator Jeff Bingaman that would guarantee full funding of the PILT program for five additional years.
According to the Interior Department, the annual PILT payments are computed based on the number of acres of federal entitlement land within each county or jurisdiction and the population of that county or jurisdiction. The lands include the National Forest and National Park Systems, the areas managed by the Bureau of Land Management, those affected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation water resource development projects, and others.
New Mexico - Local Unit of Government (FY 2013 Payment)
Bernalillo County - $193,796
Catron County - $593,448
Chaves County - $2,860,983
Cibola County - $1,693,192
Colfax County - $139,492
De Baca Country - $100,654
Dona Ana County - $2,843,049
Eddy County - $3,168,147
Grant County- $1,837,491
Guadalupe County - $148,561
Harding County - $111,861
Hidalgo County - $703,549
Lea County - $1,009,074
Lincoln County - $1,536,831
Los Alamos County - $83,130
Luna County - $1,779,759
McKinley County - $826,620
Mora County - $188,703
Otero County - $2,824,773
Quay County - $4,314
Rio Arriba County - $1,969,904
Roosevelt County - $25,747
San Juan County - $ 2,062,957
San Miguel County - $759,971
Sandoval County - $2,197,580
Santa Fe County - $668,483
Sierra County - $1,056,769
Socorro County - $1,245,613
Taos County - $1,559,822
Torrance County - $285,005
Union County - $139,764
Valencia County - $73,952
State Total - $34,692,967
