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June 13, 2018
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Christine you wrote, "Ellen, is there any way to get that report from the County re PILT?"
Below is a link to PILT information, with more links contained within the text leading to current (2017) PILT fund info for Mohave County. Approximately 3.5 million total funds allocated to Mohave County, divvied up between the Sheriff, the County search and rescue, schools and roads, and 16 Fire Districts would gut the Sheriff's Dept. (which I was told years ago gets the lion's share) while providing less than $100,000 to each of the other entities. Personally, I would rather have the Sheriff's Dept. somewhat functional than have somewhat less than $100,000 come to the LMRFD.
March 11, 2017
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Ellen, who told you that?
I never heard anything about that.
Don't you remember Jean Bishop talking at the DSCC about her proposal to increase the property taxes for the additional funding the sheriff needed?
And then the epic BOS meeting with countless speakers and votes? Didn't hear PILT funds mentioned.
Or are you talking about something else?
And great job on the topic description, perfect!
March 11, 2017
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I just posted a little video on uploading files:
https://forum.highdesertdirt.com/mohave/faq/how-to-upload-files/
June 13, 2018
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"Ellen, who told you that?
I never heard anything about that.
Don't you remember Jean Bishop talking at the DSCC about her proposal to increase the property taxes for the additional funding the sheriff needed?
And then the epic BOS meeting with countless speakers and votes? Didn't hear PILT funds mentioned.
Or are you talking about something else?"
No, I am talking about PILT funds. I have heard it repeatedly from various sources through the years as the topic comes up regularly. I got it straight from the County, probably the Treasurer's office, I don't recall exactly, when the LMRFD was circling the drain in 2012 and all funding options were being pursued. The County Treasurer would be most likely able to clarify and verify for you. Jean Bishop proposing a property tax increase to fund the sheriff, and the BOS discussions not mentioning PILT is irrelevant to that issue, as the sheriff's office is already getting the bulk of the PILT funds.
March 11, 2017
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Ellen, I'm afraid you've been BS'd. I'll post the link when I run across it.
March 11, 2017
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Didn't take long!
https://resources.mohavecounty.us/file/Finance/AFR%20June30_2017%20Audited.pdf
The PILT funds go directly into the general fund. Search the doc for "in lieu" and you'll see.
June 13, 2018
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Well then, the next thing to do would be to ask the question again to the County Treasurer's office, for a breakdown (in writing) of where the PILT funds are apportioned to. This just shows revenue, it doesn't show expenses.
March 11, 2017
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Because the PILT fund goes into the general fund, there is no further information to be had. In this audit report you'll see $46 mil for public safety, presumably that's includes the sheriff.
You can see in the actual budget that there are many funds, but none for the sheriff. That's because the BOS determines how much money to give to the sheriff, just like to the countless other county departments. And that's why we had that big deal with the extra funds for the sheriff as not enough had been allocated for additional deputies, etc.
The treasurer has nothing to do with any of the allocations, the budget, etc. It's the BOS making these decisions.
Ellen, I can only reiterate that you have to stop believing what you hear. If you don't get it in writing, it's probably a lie. And that's especially true when you talk to politicians.
IF the PILT funds actually had been used for the sheriff, what would we do when the Feds don't pay? This is NOT a guaranteed payment and in fact, here comes our local superhero Trump:
Reducing funding for critical services in rural counties: The president’s budget slashes $68 million from the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program,4 which provides payments to municipalities that help make up for unpaid property taxes from nontaxable federal lands.5 PILT provides critical funding for rural counties to pay for services, including road maintenance, emergency personnel, police services, and construction of public buildings.6
Fortunately, the super rich got their tax cuts, so the people who voted for him can now go begging for corporate donations.
March 11, 2017
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I'm trying to find out where we're at with the PILT funds.
Date: June 26, 2017
Contact: Interior_Press@ios.doi.govWASHINGTON – While meeting with local, state and federal officials in Nevada today, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced that more than 1,900 local governments around the country will receive $464.6 million in Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) funding for 2017. Nevada has more federally-owned land than any other state (as a percentage) and will receive $26,184,790. ....
So we should be getting the full amount for 2018 any day.
In my previous post they discussed the 2019 Trump budget with the cuts. But that's not the final budget, so maybe somebody put up a fight for us.
http://www.naco.org/resources/.....lt-program
ACTION NEEDED:
Urge your members of Congress to support mandatory full funding for the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program. Because local governments are unable to tax the property values or products derived from federal lands, PILT payments are necessary to support essential local government services. Unless Congress acts, counties will have received their last fully-funded PILT disbursement in 2018.
Without mandatory full funding, PILT will remain a discretionary program (subject to the annual appropriations process) and could fall back to pre-2008 funding levels, which would devastate local government service delivery in areas with significant federal land ownership.
BACKGROUND:
The PILT program was created in 1976 to offset costs incurred by counties for services provided to federal employees and families, the public and to the users of public lands. Services include education, solid waste disposal, law enforcement, search and rescue, health care, environmental compliance, fire-fighting, parks and recreation and other important community services.
Annual PILT funding levels remained static for many years. For nearly two decades, counties watched the value of their PILT receipts drop due to inflation. In 1995, NACo was successful in securing an amendment to the PILT formula, (P.L. 103-397), which adjusted annual authorization levels for inflation.
The FY 2018 Omnibus Appropriations package, signed by the president on March 23, 2018, funded PILT at $530 million for the remainder of FY 2018. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017, passed by Congress on May 4 and signed into law on May 5, 2017, fully funded PILT at $465 million for FY 2017. In FY 2016, Congress fully funded PILT at $452 million.
In FY 2015, PILT was funded with $70 million in appropriations provided by the FY 2015 National Defense Authorization Act and $372 million in appropriations provided by the FY 2015 Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act (P.L. 113-235). Together the two bills provided full discretionary funding of $442 million for PILT in FY 2015. Although full funding was provided in FY 2015, this piecemeal approach subjected a portion of PILT funds to sequestration and required NACo to advocate successfully for a “technical fix” to ensure the distribution of nearly 10 percent of total FY 2015 PILT funds was not delayed into 2016.
In FY 2014, PILT was extended through the farm bill (P.L. 113-79) as a fully funded, mandatory entitlement program at $425 million. Mandatory funding for FY 2013 was achieved through the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) (P.L. 112-141), which provided $399 million in PILT funding. Previously, the enactment of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (P.L. 110-343) provided full funding for PILT from FY 2008 through FY 2012. From its enactment in 1976 through 2007, PILT was subject to annual appropriations and as a result was underfunded year after year.
KEY TALKING POINTS:
- The PILT program provides payments to counties and other local governments to offset losses in tax revenues due to the presence of substantial federal land acreage within their jurisdictions.
- Because local governments are unable to tax the property values or products derived from federal lands, PILT payments are necessary to support essential local government services (mandated by law) such as education, emergency services, transportation infrastructure, law enforcement and health care in over 1,850 counties in 49 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
- Without predictable mandatory funding, PILT will remain a discretionary program subject to the annual appropriations process. Counties urge the administration and Members of Congress to support long-term predictable full funding for PILT in FY 2019 and beyond.
- While the Senate and House continue to discuss legislative solutions for funding the PILT program, NACo will continue to urge leadership in both chambers and on both sides of the aisle to work together to fully fund the program.
This is dated Mar. 13, 2018. So what happened?
Did Buster Johnson fly to DC again to lobby for the PILT funds?
March 11, 2017
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Maybe he did.
Thank God for Congress! And of course many thanks to the people and organizations who lobbied for us. Apparently our representatives are smart enough to realize that the republican base is in the rural areas and slashing the PILT funds would have outraged many voters.
https://appropriations.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=395297
Federal Payments to Local Communities – The bill provides $500 million for “Payments In Lieu of Taxes” (PILT), $35 million above the budget request. PILT provides funds for local governments in 49 states to help offset losses in property taxes due to nontaxable federal lands within their counties. Without congressional action, many rural communities would face huge budget shortfalls impacting public safety, education, and other local government responsibilities.
Still won't help our fire districts, but at least the county gets the money.
March 11, 2017
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Update:
In 2018 Mohave County got $3,646,670 for 6,421,734 acres of BLM land.
LMRFD got NOTHING.
That's how much those bastards care about us.
I actually visited the BOS offices recently. They work in style. You'd never guess that they're in charge of one of the poorest counties.
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