Federal government gives Nevada $13 million to cover lost property taxes

Suzanne Struglinski

Friday, June 24, 2005 | 9:55 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The Interior Department will send Nevada a $13 million check today, to help make up for property taxes the state cannot collect on land owned by the federal government.

Clark County will receive just over $1.9 million, or about $40,000 more than last year. Nevada's counties will split $13,732,723 in "payment in lieu of taxes." That's a $237,000 increase over last year. County governments can use the money for police and fire departments, road maintenance or other public programs it would usually pay for with local tax money.

"These dollars are critical for the economic survival of our state since Nevada is almost 85 percent owned and managed by the federal government," Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev. said in a statement. "While I am glad to see that each year we continue to increase funding, the increases are small and do not fully meet Nevada's need resulting from the federal ownership of so much of our state's land."

Gibbons, and other members of Nevada's congressional delegation complain that the Bush administration does not allocate enough money for payment in lieu of taxes, or PILT.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., called this year's payment "paltry."

"Because Clark County and other local governments cannot tax federal property, we lose out on dollars that would be used to pay for education, transportation and homeland security needs," Berkley said in a statement."Rather than honor this obligation under the law to compensate Clark County and other municipalities for their lost revenue, the Republican Congress has once again shortchanged Nevadans by failing to provide adequate PILT payments."