ELKINS, W.Va. (WBOY) — U.S. Senators Joe Manchin and Shelly Moore Capito announced on June 23 that $3,617,997 from the U.S. Department of Interiors Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program has been disbursed among 36 counties in the state.
The payments are made each year to counties with non-taxable federal land, to offset the lost property tax revenue. The money is often used by each county to fund things like public health, law enforcement, education, fire departments, and road maintenance. Randolph County was awarded $596,784.
“Well it’s one of our big revenues that we get in, several years ago they were speaking of maybe getting rid of the PILT money, which would be, it would be disastrous to a lot of these counties, especially Randolph and Pocahontas, with the, you know, the larger amount of national forest. But no, it really helps out with budget for the county,” said Randolph County Commission President Chris See.
Full list of funding:
- Barbour – $3,114
- Braxton – $77,108
- Cabell – $6,601
- Fayette – $107,903
- Grant – $47,110
- Greenbrier – $317,466
- Hampshire – $9,995
- Hardy – $151,464
- Jefferson – $14,972
- Kanawha – $940
- Lewis – $60,024
- Marion – $656
- Mason – $2,271
- Mercer – $344
- Mineral – $10,342
- Mingo – $10,301
- Monongalia – $265
- Monroe – $61,840
- Morgan – $338
- Nicholas – $109,901
- Ohio – $250
- Pendleton – $296,370
- Pleasants – $132
- Pocahontas – $914,685
- Preston – $11,540
- Putnam – $1,199
- Raleigh – $39,424
- Randolph – $596,784
- Summers – $69,746
- Taylor – $6,094
- Tucker – $299,199
- Wayne – $105,814
- Webster – $193,376
- Wetzel – $126
- Wood – $362
- Wyoming – $89,941
“Funding through the PILT program helps offset shortfalls that our municipalities face in serving their residents, and invests into our communities. It is welcome news to see this support heading to West Virginia, and I look forward to seeing the positive impact this will have in our counties across the state,” Senator Capito said.
For more than 40 years, the PILT program has been paying counties in West Virginia that are unable to collect taxes on those federal lands.