PILT (payments in lieu of taxes) is a perpetual issue for Michigan’s northern counties, where ownership of land by the state and federal governments is common. The National Association of Counties has created an interactive feature that allows you to see exactly what the federal PILT program can do to a county’s primary source of revenue.

As seen in the example below, the federal government paid Crawford County less than $2 per acre — far, far below the “market” tax result. For 2014, Michigan counties received about $4.6 million for approximately 2.2 million acres.(For a table showing all of the FY14 federal PILT to Michigan counties, click here.)

And in the “going from bad to worse” category, the future of PILT in the 2015 federal budget remains in doubt. The authorization for PILT actually expired on Sept. 30 with the end of the 2014 fiscal year. PILT was not included in the continuing resolution that is keeping the federal government going in lieu of an enacted budget. That resolution expires at the end of December and NACo is planning a big push in November and December to get PILT back into the federal spending plan.

Stay connected to MAC’s communications channels for updates on this topic.