Annual Federal Payment Is $2.36 Per Acre

WATER VALLEY – Yalobusha County will receive $181,314 from the federal government as part of the annual payment from the federal government to local governments to help offset losses in property taxes due to non-taxable federal land in 2019. Yalobusha County’s payment is the second highest out of 72 counties in the state receiving the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT), trailing only behind Lafayette County’s $245,653 payment.

Annual PILT payments are made for tax-exempt federal lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Forest Service. Federal water projects and some military payments are also considered in PILT payment evaluations.

In Yalobusha, the payments stems from a total of 76,829 acres of federal land that includes U.S. Corps of Engineers owned property at Enid and Grenada lakes and 20,776 included in the Holly Springs National Forest in the county. That means the county receives just under $2.36 per acre. 

The U.S. Department of Interior announced the distribution of 2019 PILT payments in late June, noting that the payments vary from year to year and are issued using a formula based on population, revenue-sharing payments and the amount of federal land in a county. 

Only neighboring Lafayette County surpassed Yalobusha with more federal acreage, tallying 103,111 acres.