News Release
August 2, 2007

UW releases 2006 PILT facts for Wyoming’s 23 counties

PILT payments to Wyoming’s 23 counties increased approximately 3.86 percent from 2005 to 2006, according to the University of Wyoming’s Cooperative Extension Service (UW CES).

Wyoming’s share of federal Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) climbed from $14.81 million to $15.19 million mainly due to a slight increase in the prorated share authorized by Congress, said Tom Foulke, an associate research scientist in the UW College of Agriculture’s Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics.

Natrona County received the highest PILT payment in 2006. The county netted $1.94 million. Laramie County received the lowest payment with $14,136.

Natrona County is approximately 43-percent federally owned while the federal government owns just 1 percent of Laramie County.

Payments to individual counties vary widely based on the amount of federal land in the county, population and any prior years’ federal revenue sharing payments received, Foulke said.

“Federal lands are not subject to property taxes that support county governments and education. Local communities, however, play an important role in supporting the management of federal lands,” he noted.

In 1976, Congress authorized federal land management agencies to share income with states and counties by creating the PILT program to offset lost tax revenue.

“The PILT program helps counties make up for ‘lost’ revenue that counties would normally collect through property taxes if the land were privately held,” Foulke said.

County information follows, with the 2006 net payment to county listed first and the acres of entitlement land in parenthesis:

1. Natrona: $1,943,020 net payment (1,483,344 entitlement acres).

2. Sweetwater: $1,699,067 (4,611,015).

3. Fremont: $1,576,233 (3,190,706).

4. Park: $1,153,749 (3,591,528).

5. Albany: $870,156 (678,832).

6. Teton: $859,886 (2,631,661).

7. Lincoln: $817,726 (1,952,608).

8. Uinta: $813,730 (568,447).

9. Carbon: $684,186 (2,728,201).

10. Big Horn: $668,263 (1,541,807).

11. Washakie: $630,203 (959,362).

12. Johnson: $579,625 (829,370).

13. Sheridan: $575,178 (444,155).

14. Sublette: $491,999 (2,431,285).

15. Hot Springs: $441,249 (570,156).

16. Campbell: $344,493 (371,093).

17. Converse: $325,841 (401,413).

18. Crook: $200,686 (333,759).

19. Niobrara: $180,289 (125,085).

20. Platte: $154,058 (106,459).

21. Weston: $129,327 (305,623).

22. Goshen: $39,600 (27,305).

23. Laramie: $14,136 (9,747).

Foulke noted the UW CES publishes simplified fact sheets annually to show how PILT payments are calculated for each county. “Local government officials and interested persons can see how these monies are calculated in order to better understand this revenue source,” he noted.

The PILT fact sheets were prepared by a team of extension specialists and faculty members with the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics. The team included Foulke; Department Head and Associate Professor Roger Coupal; and Professor David “Tex” Taylor, a CES community development specialist.

Copies of the 2006 fact sheets for each Wyoming county can be obtained locally at a CES office or downloaded at http://ces.uwyo.edu/PILTS.asp.

Contact: Robert Waggener, Editor
Phone: (307) 766-3571
E-mail: robertw@uwyo.edu

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