WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today announced Alaska municipalities will receive $28.5 million from the Department of the Interior in compensation for federal lands within their jurisdictions.

This year’s Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program award is $2 million more than Alaska received in 2013. There are more than 255 million acres of tax exempt federally managed land in Alaska.

“The PILT program compensates Alaska’s boroughs and other local governments for the large percentage of federally managed lands in the state that are exempt from municipal taxes,” Murkowski said. “The payments ensure that communities can provide the vital services residents depend on, from firefighting and police protection to search-and-rescue operations.”

The PILT program compensates local governments with National Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Military, and other tax exempt federal property within their borders.

Details of the 2014 payments to individual areas will be available on the Department of the Interior website on Wednesday.

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