HYDE-SMITH ANNOUNCES $2.16 MILLION IN PAYMENT IN LIEU OF TAXES TO MISS. COUNTIES
Dept. of the Interior Program Helps Counties with Federal Lands, Installations
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today announced that Mississippi will receive $2.16 million in Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) payments for 2019.
The FY2019 PILT payments going to 72 Mississippi counties range in value from $245,653 for Lafayette County to $111 for Noxubee County. The payments are issued by the U.S. Department of the Interior to counties with tax-exempt, federally-owned lands, water projects, and some military installations.
“PILT appropriations are intended to help defray some of the tax revenue lost by counties that host national forests, wildlife refuges, and some military installations,” Hyde-Smith said.
“Mississippi isn’t like some western states where the federal government owns most of the land, but our state does support a variety of federal interests, which makes counties eligible for some assistance,” she said.
Hyde-Smith serves on the Senate Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee that has jurisdiction over the PILT program.
The PILT program is administered by the Office of the Secretary of the Interior. The payments, which vary from year to year, are issued using a formula based on population, revenue-sharing payments, and the amount of federal land in a county.
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