A not-so-funny-thing is happening to federal payments to Utah's 29 counties for services they provide to non-taxable federal lands.
They're shrinking. But federal lands and their demands on local county services are not. And inflation is making those shrinking payments look even smaller. Utah, Uinta and Duchesne counties were among the biggest losers of federal payments over the past two years. In the metro area, only Davis County had an increase in funding.Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah, and Rep. Bill Orton, D-Utah, were among members of Congress who testified Tuesday for a bill to increase such payments nationally from $105 million to $220 million a year - the first increase in 15 years.
The bill - which is co-sponsored by Garn and 50 other senators - would also allow annual adjustments for inflation. And Garn and Orton are also calling for an amendment to close a loophole that has been reducing the amount of land in Utah eligible for the Payment In Lieu of Taxes program.
That loophole comes because only federal land that was technically subject to local property tax when the federal government obtained it is eligible for the program.
But Utah and the federal government have made numerous land exchanges recently to solve management problems. Because the state owned such property, it was not taxable when the federal government obtained it - even though it was exchanged for land already in the program.
"The result - Utah's counties now lose an estimated $700,000 annually from the erosion of their entitlement land base," Orton said.
Garn - a member of the committee - said he will offer an amendment to solve the problem when it is considered. "This amendment will stop the steady erosion of revenues resulting from routine land exchanges," Garn said - although it will not be retroactive.
Garn also expressed strong support for the overall bill saying payments in lieu of taxes "provide essential support to communities whose tax revenues are lower because most of their land is owned by the federal government.
"Unfortunately, because the original bill (in 1976) did not include a formula for inflation, the money now received by these counties is equal to half of what it was when the program began."
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(Chart)
Losing federal money
Payments in lieu of taxes to Utah's counties decreased from $9.5 million in fiscal 1988 to $9.1 million in fiscal 1988 to $9.1 million in fiscal 1990.
1988 1990
Big losers
Uinta $702.625 $576,727
Utah $504,219 $470,998
Duchesne $444,366 $389,480
Metro area
Salt Lake $62,618 $61,316
Davis $22,610 $25,385
Tooele $716,518 $714,061
Summit $339,544 $332,310