Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) announced that the Department of the Interior (DOI) has awarded $32,996,305 under the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program to rural counties in Nevada for Fiscal Year 2024.
“Every year, the PILT program helps rural Nevada counties pay law enforcement and first responders, fund housing and education, and undertake critical conservation projects,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “I’m glad to see more federal funding headed to Nevada, and I will continue to do everything I can to help our rural communities thrive.”
“Since Day One, I’ve been working to deliver federal funding and resources to rural Nevada for essential services, including for law enforcement and firefighting, in addition to supporting local education and infrastructure repairs,” said Senator Rosen. “I’m proud to have helped secure $33 million in PILT funding this year for rural communities across our state. I will keep fighting to ensure communities in rural Nevada get their fair share of federal funding.”
PILT payments are federal payments to local governments that help offset losses in property taxes due to non-taxable federal lands within those governments’ boundaries. PILT payments help local governments carry out vital services including firefighting and police protection, construction of public schools and roads, and search-and-rescue operations. The payments are made annually for tax-exempt federal lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (all agencies of the Department of the Interior), the U.S. Forest Service (part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture), and federal water projects and some military installations. A full breakdown of the FY2024 PILT payments by county is available here.
Senators Cortez Masto and Rosen have been champions of the PILT program, and they have repeatedly called for a long-term solution to secure the PILT program for the future. Both Senators have also previously cosponsored the Small County PILT Parity Act, legislation that would modify the PILT formula so that counties with populations under 5,000 would receive increased PILT payments.
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