January 18, 2016
Read about how the state’s payment in lieu of taxes (PILT) to counties for publicly owned land became an important issue in Washington.
Excerpt: “Two reasons, basically:
- The amount of land owned and managed by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife has continued to grow — from 6,214 acres in 1940 to 261,093 acres in 1970, and more than doubling since then to 636,703 acres. Over the last five years alone, the department has added nearly 60,000 acres.
- Around 2009, counties began to realize they were eligible for a greater piece of the state’s financial pie than they’d been enjoying. When they began taking advantage of that, the state responded by freezing the payments at those 2009 levels for 13 counties in Eastern Washington.”
Read the complete story in the Yakima Herald.