County to receive money from state PILT program
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New Mexico’s senators announced last week Quay County will receive more than $5,000 from the U.S. Department of Interior’s Payment in Lieu of Taxes program.
U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, both Democrats, announced 32 New Mexico counties would receive a total of $41.3 million from the PILT program to provide crucial services to residents, such as public safety, fire protection, emergency response, road maintenance and more.
Quay County’s share is $5,077.
Quay County manager Richard Primrose said the county receives a PILT payment annually. He said the money goes into the general fund for operations and maintenance.
According to a news release from the senators, PILT provides federal payments to local governments to help offset losses in property taxes because of nontaxable federal land within their jurisdictions, including national parks and forests, wildlife refuges and Bureau of Land Management land.
New Mexico counties received payments for over 22 million acres of nontaxable federal land. The $41 million for 2020 New Mexico funding was approved as part of $514.7 million included in the Department of Interior’s portion of the Fiscal Year 2020 Consolidated Appropriations Act, which was enacted into law in February with the support of Udall and Heinrich.
The PILT program calculates annual payments to local governments based on the number of acres of federal entitlement land within each county and the population there. The lands include those in the National Forest and National Park systems, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Refuge System and areas managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
