Colorado will receive $36.6 million in federal payments to local governments — Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) funding — for 2017, according to Senators Cory Gardner, R-Colo., and Michael Bennet, D-Colo.
The Colorado senators announced the PILT program payout Tuesday afternoon in a joint news release.
“The PILT program is an important resource for counties across the country to provide essential services to their citizens,” the release said. “PILT provides funding to counties which contain federal land within their borders, offsetting the lost property tax revenue that comes from the non-taxable federal land located within the counties.”
“The PILT program is critical for communities across Colorado that rely on these funds for services like road maintenance and law enforcement,” Bennet said in the release. “We’ve led a bipartisan effort to provide full funding in FY18 and we’ll continue to work to find a long-term solution to provide counties and local governments sustained funding and more predictability in the future.”
PILT payments to local governments help offset losses in property taxes due to non-taxable federal lands within their boundaries.
“Throughout my time in Congress, I have advocated for fully funding the PILT program and I’m thrilled 64 local governments in Colorado will receive this funding,” Gardner said. “These grants are critical to rural counties throughout Colorado and are used to fund essential services, including public safety and emergency response efforts.”
