County will see $2.84 million in PILT

Flathead County will see $2.844 million in payment-in-lieu of taxes for federal lands in the county that don’t pay property taxes.

The county has 2,442,403 acres of federal lands that are tax-exempt, including 1,780,24 acres of Forest Service lands, 29,736 acres of Bureau of Reclamation lands (which includes the Hungry Horse Dam) and 632,422 acres of Glacier National Park.

Unlike some counties in the state, Flathead County doesn’t use the funding for operational needs, county administrator Mike Pence said. It’s because the payments in past years have been held up by Congress and it’s tough to plan on the funding.

While the county budget isn’t finalized, Pence said last week the preliminary budget calls for using $500,000 of this year’s funds towards roads and $1 million toward a fund for a new jail.

The remaining fund allocation hasn’t been determined, Pence noted, but the PILT funding for the past 10 years has gone toward capital improvement projects countywide.

Statewide, PILT payments amounted to $34 million to counties.

This year’s payment to Flathead County is lower than last year’s payment by about $600,000, but it is higher than the $2,619,256 the county received in 2017.

Even so, the payment isn’t much compared to private property — the simple math shows it comes out to about $1.16 an acre.