WATER VALLEY – Yalobusha County will receive $229,423 from the federal government as part of the annual payment to local governments to help offset losses in property taxes due to non-taxable federal land in 2024. Yalobusha County’s payment is the third highest out of 82 counties in the state receiving the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT), trailing only behind Lafayette County ($304,938) and Perry County ($233,248).
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. The U.S. Department of the Interior issues the PILT payments to counties, with local officials retaining authority to allocate the funds that can be used to support public safety, public schools, social services, or infrastructure. The agency announced the distribution of 2024 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.
In Yalobusha, the payment stems from a total of 76,793 acres of federal land that includes U.S. Corps of Engineers owned property at Enid and Grenada lakes and 20,776 acres in the Holly Springs National Forest in the county. This means the county received $2.99 per acre. Last year the county received $216,039, or just under $2.81 per acre.
