(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.”