July 07, 2020

Manchin Announces More Than $3.4 Million From PILT Program For West Virginia

Charleston, WV – U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) today announced $3,463,622 from the U.S. Department of the Interior's (DOI) Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program to counties in West Virginia. These county payments are made annually for tax-exempt Federal lands administered by DOI agencies including the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and for lands administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s U.S. Forest Service.

“Many of our local governments that have Federal lands within their boundaries would be subject to budget shortfalls if it were not for the PILT program to help offset those shortfalls because local governments are prohibited from collecting taxes on Federal lands. I am pleased West Virginia is receiving PILT funding to help our local governments offset our wild and wonderful federal lands and balance their budgets. As Ranking Member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I will continue to support the PILT program to ensure our federal lands don’t harm our local governments by restricting their budgets and instead help enhance the surrounding communities,” said Senator Manchin, Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.