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Montana Counties To Receive $30 Million In PILT Funds

Montana will raise the minimum wage by $0.15 in January, 2018.
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Montana Counties To Receive $30 Million In PILT Funds

Fifty-five Montana counties are set to receive over $30 million in so-called PILT funds this fiscal year.

PILT is shorthand for Payment In Lieu of Taxes.

Lewis and Clark County received almost $2.4 million in PILT funds. That’s about $300 more than last year.

County Commissioner Mike Murray says that money helps feed the local general fund.

“In our case it goes to everything from operating our district courts to public works and our roads to funding our clerk and recorder’s office," Murray says.

PILT payments are made to mostly rural counties with federal lands not taxable by local governments.

Commissioner Murray says PILT helps, but adds he’d like to see more predictability built into the program:

“We’re trying to get five years out in PILT payments," he says. "If we could do that, that would allow local governments to plan for the money that we would anticipate over a five-year period. Getting it piecemeal like this year to year, it’s very difficult to plan for.”

More than 1,900 local governments around the country received almost $452 million dollars under the PILT program.

Edward O’Brien first landed at Montana Public Radio three decades ago as a news intern while attending the UM School of Journalism. He covers a wide range of stories from around the state.
edward.obrien@umt.edu.  
(406) 243-4065
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