Charleston, WV – Today, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, joined 30 bipartisan colleagues in urging U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, and Richard Shelby (R-AL), Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, to fully fund the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program for fiscal year (FY) 2023. PILT provides payments to counties with non-taxable federal land within their borders to offset the lost property tax revenue. 

PILT funding is critical for communities in West Virginia and across the country that use these funds for essential services. Throughout the country, PILT provides critical resources to nearly 1,900 counties across 49 states. Last year, 36 West Virginia counties received a total of $3,515,635 through the PILT program. Counties have used these payments for more than 40 years to fund law enforcement, firefighting, emergency response and other essential county services.

“Without full funding for the PILT program, counties across the nation will be unable to provide essential services such as law enforcement, education, search and rescue, road maintenance and public health to their residents and millions of visitors to our public lands,” the Senators said in part. “Moving forward, we look forward to working with you to enact a fiscally responsible, long-term solution to fully fund PILT and eliminate the uncertainty that counties face each year.”

As communities continue to contend with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, this funding also supports communities’ recovery efforts. In March of this year, Congress appropriated this year’s funding for the PILT program. That funding will be disbursed to West Virginia counties at the end of this month. Chairman Manchin and his bipartisan colleagues will continue working toward a long-term solution for PILT that will provide counties and local governments sustained funding and more predictability. 

Senator Manchin was joined by Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Mark Warner (D-VA), James Risch (R-ID), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Steve Daines (R-MT), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Alex Padilla (D-CA), James Inhofe (R-OK), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), John Barrasso (R-WY), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Jon Tester (D-MT) and Tim Kaine (D-VA).

The letter is available in full below and here.

Dear Chairman Leahy and Vice Chairman Shelby:

As Members of Congress representing counties with federal public lands within their boundaries, we write to request that you work to ensure the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program is fully funded in fiscal year (FY) 2023.

PILT provides critical resources to nearly 1,900 counties across 49 states to offset lost property tax revenue due to the presence of tax-exempt federal lands within their jurisdictions. It supports the many critical services that counties provide on federal public lands. Without full funding for the PILT program, counties across the nation will be unable to provide essential services such as law enforcement, education, search and rescue, road maintenance and public health to their residents and millions of visitors to our public lands.

Moving forward, we look forward to working with you to enact a fiscally responsible, long-term solution to fully fund PILT and eliminate the uncertainty that counties face each year. As cash strapped counties across the country work to address budget cuts exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, full-funding and a long-term solution for PILT is essential to provide certainty that the federal government will continue to uphold its long-standing commitment to public lands counties.

We look forward to working with you and other Congressional leaders to resolve this pressing issue facing our communities by fully funding PILT in FY 2023 and ensuring long-term predictable funding for this important program.

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