House increases payments to counties for federal lands

The House of Representatives has unanimously approved a record $242 million for the Payments In Lieu of Taxes program.

PILT money is provided to counties with high proportions of federal lands to compensate for the property taxes they can't collect.

"PILT payments are critically important to communities across Nevada which have been shortchanged for far too long by the federal government," said Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev.

He applauded the unanimous vote in the House saying the money is critical to counties that must have help paying for public services.

He said the best example is Lincoln County in Nevada, which has only about 2 percent of its total land area as taxable private property.

Gibbons said the money is used by counties to pay essential services ranging from law enforcement to health care, education and firefighting.

PILT has provided funding to more than 1,900 counties in 49 states - including almost all of Nevada's counties - for 25 years. One of the authors of the program was then-Nevada Rep. Jim Santini.