Interior Announces Additional FY 2015 PILT Payments

On October 30, 2015, the Department of the Interior (DOI) announced $34.5 million in payments to counties under the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program for fiscal year (FY) 2015, bringing the total for the year to $439 million. These payments compensate local governments—usually county governments—for property tax revenue that would otherwise be collected on non-taxable land owned by the federal government.

The October PILT payments add to the $405 million distributed in June. The additional payments were originally appropriated for FY 2016 by the National Defense Authorization Act of 2015 (NDAA), but were re-designated as FY 2015 payments by the FY 2016 Continuing Resolution (CR). The final FY 2015 total represents a 0.5% increase compared to FY 2014, and is almost equal to FY 2015 full funding. This Issue Brief provides background on PILT and details on the FY 2015 payments.