Feds pay less than $1 an acre to Oregon counties in lieu of taxes

(The Center Square) - Oregon will get $30.1 million in Payments in Lieu of Taxes funding from the federal government this year.

Since local governments cannot tax federal lands, the federal government provides them with PILT payments to help cover costs associated with maintaining federal land.

“Public lands are a treasure in rural Oregon, but they must not prevent communities from having the resources they need to pay for quality schools, emergency services, and safe infrastructure,” U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, said in a statement. “This federal investment is vital for Oregonian’s communities. I will keep working to protect PILT payments so communities and families across Oregon have the stability they deserve.”

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, expressed a similar sentiment.

“Oregonians cherish our public lands, and we need to make sure local communities have all the tools they need to help improve quality of life and steward our natural treasures,” Wyden said. “These PILT payments are vital to help local governments carry out necessary services like firefighting, search-and-rescue operations, road construction, schools, and police protection. I’m gratified to see PILT payments to Oregon are up nearly $3 million over 2023, and I’ll continue to monitor payments to ensure each county gets its fair share.”

PILT payments help cover costs for tax-exempt federal lands administered by federal bureaus, including the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The federal government calculates these payments based on the acres of federal land in each jurisdiction plus the area's population.

"Individual payments may vary from year to year as a result of changes in acreage data, which are updated annually by the federal agency administering the land; prior-year federal revenue-sharing payments reported annually by the governor of each state; and inflationary adjustments using the Consumer Price Index and population data, which are updated using information from the U.S. Census Bureau," the release explained.

Some counties received under $1 per acre from the federal government instead of property taxes.

Here are the counties that received over $1 million from the federal government, according to the release:

Baker -- $1,576,690 for 1,016,410 acresCrook -- $2,073,282 for 940,461 acresCurry -- $1,072,828 for 687,737 acresDeschutes -- $3,665,271 for 1,445,487 acresHarney -- $1,474,026 for 4,462,615 acresJackson -- $1,933,487 for 909,922 acresJosephine -- $1,743,651 for 714,226 acresKlamath -- $1,070,988 for 2,232,639 acresLake -- $1,474,026 for 3,692,647 acresMalheur -- $3,536,353 for 4,299,188 acresUmatilla -- $1,310,765 for 420,250 acresUnion -- $1,552,674 for 624,214 acres