Nevada counties get $13.9 million in federal payments

Nevada's 17 counties will get $13.9 million this fiscal year in federal Payments in Lieu of Taxes.

The payments are designed to compensate local governments that have large percentages of nontaxable federal land within their boundaries. The total national appropriation for Fiscal 2007 is $232 million, which is divided up using a formula that accounts for the number of acres of federal land within each county and the population.

Because of the population calculation, Washoe and Clark counties receive the largest checks in Nevada, just over $1.9 million apiece.

Elko and Nye counties, which both have more than 90 percent federal property, each receive about $1.7 million despite their comparatively small populations.

Lyon will get $1.24 million and Churchill $1.16 million.

Carson City also has tracts of BLM and Forest Service land. But its small size, just over 48,000 federally owned acres, produces a total PILT payment of $69,805.

The only county that will receive less than that is tiny Storey County at $20,933 with 14,510 acres of federal property within its boundaries.

Nationwide, New Mexico receives the largest total payment - $22.7 million this year - followed by California at $21 million and Arizona at $19 million. Delaware receives the smallest amount of any state at $10,682.

But when U.S. territories are tallied up, the smallest amount of PILT money goes to Guam - $1,345.