Koochiching County received more than $850,000 this year over 2017's annual Payment in Lieu of Taxes, or PILT, for state-owned land not subject to property tax.
PILT added more than $2.5 million to the county's general fund.
The 2018 PILT payments to Minnesota's 87 counties represent a $3.6 million increase over those made in 2017, largely due to legislation that increased the per-acre payment from $1.50 to $2 per acre on nearly 7 million acres of natural resources lands and county-managed tax-forfeited lands.
In total, counties received $35.7 million in PILT, which helps support public lands and provides a critical link in the state’s public recreation system, according to the Department of Natural Resources.
The additional $867,019 received in 2018 brought Koochiching County's PILT allocation to $2.830 million in 2018, and was due to the 2017 Legislature's increase of the $1.50 per acre to $2 an acre for property administered by the county and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, reported Betsy Zaren, county administrative assistant.
Koochiching County's 2018 PILT is distributed as follows:
- School District 362 - $7,225
- Environmental Service - $18,390
- County Development Fund - $65,744
- County Land and Forestry - $184,294
- County General Revenue - $2.555 million
Counties have received PILT payments annually since 1979 in place of property taxes on 5.6 million acres of state-managed lands and 2.8 million acres of county-managed tax-forfeited lands. Dollars for the payments come from the state’s general fund.
“PILT payments are an important source of revenue to those Minnesota counties and townships that have public lands within their borders, but the benefits of public lands go far beyond these payments,” said DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr. “Public-owned lands contribute significantly to local economies by supporting timber and mineral production while providing wild places for recreation and tourism, habitat for hundreds of species of fish and wildlife, and important ecological services like clean air and water,” Landwehr said. “These public-owned lands are part of the social and economic fabric of Minnesota."
Counties received anywhere from $18,346 in Red Lake County up to $3.79 million in St. Louis County.
The state makes PILT payments on public lands including state parks and forests, school trust lands, scientific and natural areas and wildlife management areas, Consolidated-Conservation lands as well as county-managed tax-forfeited lands. Payment rates vary according to land type and range from $2 per acre, to the greater of $5.133 per acre or three-quarters of 1 percent of appraised value. Payment for Lake Vermilion Soudan Underground Mine State Park is assessed at 1.5 percent of the appraised value of the land.
St. Louis County Commissioner Frank Jewell, Duluth, thanked legislators for their recent boost in PILT payments to counties.
“We are blessed with an abundance of public land in St. Louis County, but those lands are exempt from county property taxation,” Jewell said. “PILT helps reduce the strain on county budgets by replacing some of that uncollected tax revenue. It’s a very positive development for our county and decreases the property tax impact on our citizens."
A breakdown of PILT payments for each county is posted on the Department of Revenue website at www.revenue.state.mn.us/local_gov/prop_tax_admin/aclb/pilt_bycounty.pdf
More information about Minnesota’s public land portfolio, PILT payments, and a brief history of major public land transactions is available on the DNR website at mndnr.gov/publiclands.
