“People forget,” as the rock band The Who reminded us in their 1982 hit “Eminence Front.”
We’ve all done it. Remember when you forgot where you put your car keys? Or your phone? Perhaps you forgot your anniversary? (That’ll cost you a pretty penny … )
However, you’ve probably never forgotten 217,000 acres of land, have you?
Well, the federal government did. The federal land managers forgot the commitment to utilize the 217,000 acres of federally managed lands that are inside Utah city boundaries which could help Utah better fund education, strengthen our quality of life and revitalize our economy. The benefits of fulfilling this commitment would include alleviating the housing affordability gap, increasing the tax base to better fund schools and essential government services, facilitating effective transportation and providing a balance of open space.
When the Federal Land Policy and Management Act was passed in 1976, in addition to protecting and managing national parks, wilderness, national forests and the like, the federal government pledged “to make public lands available for the expansion of existing communities and for the development of new cities and towns.” So says the Public Land Law Review Commission Report to the President and Congress, which recommendations formed the basis for the act.
The Commission foresaw the need to expand existing communities and create new cities from the public lands in order to accommodate more than 20 million future residents in the West. The Commission declared:
“We believe such a measure would facilitate planning and more orderly urban growth, get public lands needed for development onto the tax rolls more quickly, return a fair value to the U.S. Treasury, and reduce the administrative cost of disposal to the Federal Government.”
By directing its focus only on managing the scenic public lands, the federal government completely forgot about these lands wholly inside of Utah city boundaries and the community and economic development that would directly benefit Utah’s school children, families and communities.
For decades, Utah has been last in the nation in per-pupil education funding because there is only 21% taxable land in the entire state. The federally managed lands in and around Utah’s cities were never put “onto the tax rolls … quickly,” as intended. Day in and day out, Utah’s schoolchildren and communities bear the brunt of this forgetfulness.
Most states fund education and essential government services through property tax. As the value of the land increases, the amount of funding for education and essential government services also increases, automatically. However, this is not the case in Utah where some counties have less than 3% taxable land.
The federal government promised to make Payments In Lieu of Taxes for all federally retained properties. As the Government Accountability Office points out, such payments are to “reflect what communities would have received had the property remained on the tax rolls.”
According to the study recently released by the Utah Federalism Commission, this amounts to little more than a minuscule fraction of the tax equivalent amount. Rather than “mak[ing] up for the presence of nontaxable land within [county] jurisdictions,” as the Congressional Research Service notes, Payments In Lieu of Taxes for these lands amount to less than one percent of the tax equivalent amount — and Utah children and communities suffer needlessly as a result.
Yet, the federal government hasn’t forgotten all western communities. In 1998, Congress passed the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act, under which federally managed lands in and around Las Vegas are being utilized to “facilitate planning and more orderly urban growth.”
The Clark County, Nevada website describes the vital role that act plays in meeting their growth challenges as follows:
“(The Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act) is critical to ... ensure the viability of economic diversification, development and employment strategies desired by various state and local agencies. … Increases in population translate directly into increased land demand. … As land availability dwindles, it drives up the cost of the remaining vacant land in Clark County. ... These constraints hamper Clark County’s ability to fully realize economic diversification, development and employment strategies desired by various state and local agencies.”
The Bureau of Land Management also touts the act’s benefits to the state and local communities, explaining that funds generated “will be used throughout Nevada for projects such as the development of parks, trails, and natural areas. ... Additionally, 5% of the revenue goes to the State of Nevada General Education Fund and 10% to the Southern Nevada Water Authority.”
Utah communities are among the fastest growing in the nation. With more than 650,000 acres of forgotten federally managed land within 1 mile of Utah city limits (less than 2% of all federal land in Utah), there is ample opportunity “to fully realize economic diversification (and) … a balance of residential, nonresidential and recreational uses” in Utah, just like in Las Vegas under the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act.
There is a little town in northern Utah called Mantua, with a population of less than 1,000 people. Its cemetery was rapidly filling up and needed to be expanded. The only viable land bordering the cemetery was owned by the U.S. Forest Service — but they had completely forgotten about it. It took over six years and an act of Congress to secure this forgotten land for the residents of Mantua to have a respectable place to lay their loved ones to rest. Clearly, a more comprehensive solution like SNPLMA is in order for Utah.
These forgotten lands in and around Utah city limits are essential for “more orderly urban growth, (to) get public lands needed for development onto the tax rolls more quickly,” to provide funding for education and essential government services and to unleash community and economic growth to recover from the ravages of this pandemic. This is exactly what the Federal Land Policy and Management Act envisioned for these forgotten lands.
People certainly forget. But we can choose to remember, and when we do, we are no longer condemned to repeat the mistakes of the past. Utah’s children and communities deserve to be forgotten no longer.
U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, represents Utah’s First Congressional District in the U.S. Congress, having previously served 16 years in the Utah State Legislature.
Utah Rep. Keven Stratton, a businessman, attorney and rancher, is in his fourth term in the Utah Legislature. Keven co-chairs the Utah Federalism Commission that is leading the bipartisan initiative to secure tax equivalent funding for PILT.