Eastern Oregon Counties Awarded over Ten Million Dollars in PILT Funding
By Garrett Christensen on Monday, June 19th, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
EASTERN OREGON – (Information from the U.S. Senate) The U.S. Senate recently announced that Eastern Oregon counties will receive a collective $10,643,680 in PILT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) funds. This is part of a larger statewide funding program providing over twenty-seven million dollars across all 36 Oregon Counties. As for why the funds are being distributed, the senate release states:
“Local governments cannot tax federal lands, so annual PILT payments are made for tax-exempt federal lands administered by the Interior Department’s bureaus, including the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service. PILT payments cover federal lands administered by the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission. Payments are calculated based on the number of acres of federal land within each county or jurisdiction and the population of that county or jurisdiction.”
The individual funds awarded per county are as follows:
- Baker County: $1,473,204
- Grant County: $793,971
- Harney County: $1,387,136
- Malheur County: $3,327,391
- Morrow County: $381,060
- Umatilla County: $1,238,899
- Union County: $1,382,015
- Wallowa County: $660,004
