{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.enzi.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=a39393c3-9003-4911-93a8-ff7e0af08e90", "Senators: Congress should honor commitment to rural communities through PILT funding", "2013-12-23", "2013", "2013-12", "Republican", "House", "WY", "Michael Enzi", "E000285", "www.enzi.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Where there\u2019s federal land, rural and local communities\u00a0must\u00a0provide government services despite being unable to obtain property tax revenue from land owned by the federal government. To offset this loss in revenue, Congress should continue annually appropriating Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) funds to offset the cost of providing\u00a0services related to public safety, housing, social services, transportation and the environment. That was the message of U.S. Senators Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) who sent a letter today to the\u00a0chairs\u00a0and ranking members\u00a0of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Interior subcommittee\u00a0calling on them to fully support and fund the PILT program.\r\nIn the letter, the senators highlighted how the program provides critical funding to nearly 1,900 counties in 49 states and 3 U.S. territories to help offset losses to local governments from the presence of non-taxable federal lands.\u00a0Without that funding, counties across the nation would experience incredible economic hardship, according to the senators.\r\n\u201cAs you know, property taxes fund county governments allowing them to provide essential services such as law enforcement, public safety, infrastructure maintenance, education, and health services for local communities.\u00a0 A fully funded PILT program helps to offset the loss of these important revenues and fulfill the federal governments\u2019 obligation to local communities with large amounts of federal land,\u201d the senators wrote.\r\nEnzi and Udall also have concerns with the federal government trying to use a \u201crob Peter to pay Paul\u201d scheme when it comes to compensating counties. Local communities should be paid what they are owed and that funding should not come at the expense of other compensation those communities receive, according to the senators. \u00a0\r\nAnnual PILT payments are computed by the Department of the Interior based on the number of acres of federal entitlement land within each county or jurisdiction and the population of that county or jurisdiction. The lands include the National Forest and National Park Systems, the areas managed by the Bureau of Land Management, those affected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation water resource development projects, and others.\r\nU.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and fourteen additional\u00a0senators signed the letter.\u00a0 They include:\u00a0Michael\u00a0Bennet (D-Colo.), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Dean Heller (R-Nev.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Mike Lee, (R-Utah), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), and Tim Scott (R-S.C.).", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.enzi.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=a39393c3-9003-4911-93a8-ff7e0af08e90"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.885864021256566, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}