Udall, Heinrich Announce Over $41 Million in 2020 PILT Payments for 32 NM Counties
Payments will provide essential funding to support schools, roads, first responders, and crucial services in rural communities at a difficult time for rural budgets
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) announced that 32 counties across New Mexico will receive $41,357,054 through the Department of Interior’s (DOI) Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program. The PILT funding will be used by local governments across New Mexico to provide crucial services to residents, such as public safety, fire protection, emergency response, road maintenance, and more. A full list of funding by county is available below.
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.
“PILT payments are a vital resource for communities across New Mexico, helping to support essential services like schools, roads, public safety and search and rescue operations,” said Udall, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. “I’m proud to continue working to deliver these critical payments for New Mexico, especially at a time when New Mexico counties are facing budget uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, I urge the Senate to vote on permanent PILT funding. Without this guarantee, local governments are often left wondering whether they will receive payments they rely on to provide basic services. Local governments deserve predictable funding and budget certainty in order to properly plan for the future. As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, I’m committed to fighting for full, permanent PILT funding to make sure that New Mexico counties have the economic security and stability they need to thrive.”
“Rural communities rely on PILT payments to provide basic services to residents like road maintenance and public safety services,” said Heinrich. “I am glad we were successful in securing this year’s PILT dollars, but we must still pass permanent funding to ensure that these critical services have the long-term stability they deserve. I will continue to advocate for permanent funding for PILT and the Secure Rural Schools program so that rural New Mexico counties have the budget certainty they need to succeed.”
The PILT program is administered by the Department of the Interior, which calculates annual payments to local governments based on the number of acres of federal entitlement land within each county and the population of that county. The lands include the National Forest and National Park Systems, lands in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Refuge System, and areas managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
The full list of New Mexico $41,357,054 in PILT payments for Fiscal Year 2020 is available below:
Bernalillo County, $228,158
Catron County, $680,804
Chaves County, $3,375,473
Cibola County, $1,997,440
Colfax County, $178,999
De Baca County, $119,091
Dona Ana County, $3,334,673
Eddy County, $3,735,551
Grant County, $2,225,752
Guadalupe County, $173,489
Harding County, $122,598
Hidalgo County, $741,033
Lea County, $1,183,659
Lincoln County, $1,930,200
Los Alamos County, $95,190
Luna County, $2,094,135
McKinley County, $1,020,531
Mora County, $270,831
Otero County, $3,466,522
Quay County, $5,077
Rio Arriba County, $2,522,415
Roosevelt County, $30,308
San Juan County, $2,422,565
San Miguel County, $912,525
Sandoval County, $2,417,346
Santa Fe County, $805,449
Sierra County, $1,266,753
Socorro County, $1,506,873
Taos County, $1,897,930
Torrance County, $341,746
Union County, $165,390
Valencia County, $88,578
