County to receive PILT bounty
SANDPOINT — Bonner County is receiving nearly $2 million through federal programs to help offset losses in property taxes due to non-taxable federal lands within its bounds.
The U.S. Department of Interior announced on Wednesday that 1,900 local governments will be the beneficiaries of $552.8 million in Payments in Lieu of Taxes funding. It’s the largest disbursement in the program’s 40-year history, according to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke.
“As a kid who grew up in northwest Montana and whose sons graduated from the same high school as I did, I know how important PILT payments are to local communities that have federal lands. These investments are one of the ways the federal government is fulfilling its role of being a good land manager and good neighbor to local communities,” Zinke said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
Bonner County’s cut of the PILT funding comes to nearly $1.1 million, according to the Interior Department.
PILT payments help local governments carry out such vital services as firefighting and police protection, construction of public schools and roads, and search-and-rescue operations. The payments are made annually for tax-exempt federal lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.
The Forest Service announced last month that Idaho is receiving $26 million in funding through the Secure Rural Schools funding, which also helps counties offset the loss of tax revenue from federal lands. A spending bill approved by the Trump administration earlier this year included two years of funding for SRS.
“I am pleased that the fiscal year 2018 appropriations bill honors the government’s responsibility to Idaho. These funds go to counties’ most critical services such as transportation infrastructure and education. I am also pleased my vote on this bill ensures full funding for PILT, another important funding stream for Idaho,” U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson said in a statement.
About 40 percent of Bonner County is private land, while the remainder is held by the federal government
(44.4 percent), the state (15.2 percent) and municipalities (1 percent), according to the Bonner County Planning Department.
Bonner County stands to receive nearly $879,000 in SRS funding. The bulk of the money — $703,095 — comes in the form of Title I funding, 75 percent of which is can be spent on public roads. The remaining 25 percent goes to public schools.
The U.S. Forest Service in Bonner County is receiving $131,830 in Title II funding, which can be used for habitat and recreation improvement projects in national forests. Bonner County is receiving $43,943 in SRS Title III funding, which can be used for search-and-rescue programs, in addition to wildfire prevention and planning.
Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.