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Colorado counties getting $45M in federal funds for 23M acres of tax-exempt land

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Joe Mueller

(The Center Square) – Almost all of Colorado’s 64 counties will receive a portion of more than $45 million in “payments in lieu of taxes” from the U.S. Department of Interior to fund services throughout the state.

The funds are paid to state and local governments because federal lands are tax exempt. The federal money helps defray the costs associated with maintaining a county’s services, such as law enforcement, fire protection and schools.

Colorado’s amount is a 3 percent increase from the 2022 payment ($44.2 million) and 6 percent higher than 2021 ($43.1 million.)

Colorado has approximately 23 million acres of federal tax-exempt land, approximately 34 percent of the state’s total of 67 million acres, according to information published by the Interior Department and U.S. Census Bureau. Twenty counties will receive between $949,000 and $4.1 million.

Payments are made to counties with tax-exempt federal lands administered by the Interior Department, including the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Each county’s total number of acres of federal land and its population are considered when calculating the payments. More than $26.3 billion in revenue is collected annually by the federal government from commercial activity on public lands. After a portion is distributed to states and counties, the balance is deposited into the U.S. Treasury, according to information provided by the Interior Department. Funds for the payments in lieu of taxes are distributed from the U.S. Treasury.

Sixteen Colorado counties will receive between $1.1 million and $4 million, and have between 434,000 and 1.6 million acres of federal tax-exempt land. Nine of those 16 counties, including the top three receiving funds from the program – Mesa, Garfield and Montrose – are on the Western Slope.

Mesa County, with approximately 159,000 people or 47 people per square mile, has the largest number of acres of federal land in the state with 1.6 million, approximately 76 percent of its total acreage of 2.1 million, according to the Interior Department and the Census Bureau. It will receive $4.1 million.

Garfield County, with a population of approximately 62,000 or 21 people per square mile, will get $3.7 million. Approximately 63 percent, or 1.2 million acres of its total of 1.9 million acres, is federal land.

Montrose County has 908,658 acres of federal land or 68 percent of its total of 1.4 million acres. It will receive $3 million to serve its 43,800 residents, or 19 people per square mile.

“The Biden-Harris administration is committed to boosting local communities,” Joan Mooney, the principal deputy assistant secretary for policy, management and budget, said in an announcement on the distribution of funds. “PILT payments help local governments carry out vital services, such as firefighting and police protection, construction of public schools and roads, and search-and-rescue operations. We are grateful for our ongoing partnerships with local jurisdictions across the country who help the Interior Department fulfill our mission on behalf of the American public.”

COUNTY

PAYMENT

TOTAL ACRES

ADAMS COUNTY

$0

0

ALAMOSA COUNTY

$259,688

86,255

ARAPAHOE COUNTY

$2,074

4,610

ARCHULETA COUNTY

$1,160,821

434,060

BACA COUNTY

$637,170

204,756

BENT COUNTY

$64,615

21,386

BOULDER COUNTY

$470,346

163,560

BROOMFIELD COUNTY

$0

0

CHAFFEE COUNTY

$1,513,043

503,116

CHEYENNE COUNTY

$0

0

CLEAR CREEK COUNTY

$335,790

169,690

CONEJOS COUNTY

$1,308,069

500,903

COSTILLA COUNTY

$319

708

CROWLEY COUNTY

$12,764

4,055

CUSTER COUNTY

$502,297

172,980

DELTA COUNTY

$948,991

404,420

DENVER COUNTY

$0

0

DOLORES COUNTY

$187,991

418,043

DOUGLAS COUNTY

$373,217

144,637

EAGLE COUNTY

$2,676,958

851,183

EL PASO COUNTY

$190,395

100,855

ELBERT COUNTY

$0

0

FREMONT COUNTY

$1,291,571

455,254

GARFIELD COUNTY

$3,720,824

1,188,817

GILPIN COUNTY

$115,697

43,103

GRAND COUNTY

$1,927,703

795,147

GUNNISON COUNTY

$1,585,145

1,632,527

HINSDALE COUNTY

$165,482

677,284

HUERFANO COUNTY

$613,236

208,780

JACKSON COUNTY

$231,518

514,834

JEFFERSON COUNTY

$152,693

103,728

KIOWA COUNTY

$41,416

14,030

KIT CARSON COUNTY

$0

0

LA PLATA COUNTY

$990,211

433,223

LAKE COUNTY

$424,520

187,708

LARIMER COUNTY

$2,207,706

806,435

LAS ANIMAS COUNTY

$747,658

303,008

LINCOLN COUNTY

$4,951

2,066

LOGAN COUNTY

$0

0

MESA COUNTY

$4,128,193

1,556,760

MINERAL COUNTY

$195,783

522,338

MOFFAT COUNTY

$988,682

1,672,102

MONTEZUMA COUNTY

$217,524

483,716

MONTROSE COUNTY

$3,019,198

980,658

MORGAN COUNTY

$1,448

3,221

OTERO COUNTY

$540,272

173,894

OURAY COUNTY

$494,796

159,467

PARK COUNTY

$2,034,200

704,667

PHILLIPS COUNTY

$0

0

PITKIN COUNTY

$1,772,970

563,345

PROWERS COUNTY

$194

430

PUEBLO COUNTY

$184,494

63,581

RIO BLANCO COUNTY

$673,916

1,498,609

RIO GRANDE COUNTY

$991,065

332,357

ROUTT COUNTY

$2,051,083

662,800

SAGUACHE COUNTY

$1,139,486

1,396,607

SAN JUAN COUNTY

$98,747

219,310

SAN MIGUEL COUNTY

$1,339,129

487,909

SEDGWICK COUNTY

$859

273

SUMMIT COUNTY

$448,605

313,464

TELLER COUNTY

$246,771

161,886

WASHINGTON COUNTY

$358

795

WELD COUNTY

$88,684

197,209

YUMA COUNTY

$3,360

7,470

TOTAL

$45,524,696

23,714,029