The Department of the Interior announced today that 29 local Alaska governments would receive $29.7 million in Payment in Lieu of Taxes funds, or PILT. PILT funding provides local governments with funding they can’t get from tax-exempt federal lands within their boundaries. It pays for services such as public safety, schools and roads in communities containing national parks, national forests and other public lands.
The Mat-Su Borough and Kenai Peninsula Borough will receive the largest funding amounts with both getting more than $3 million each from the federal government.
The almost $30 million Alaska will receive is part of a record $464.6 million that will be distributed to 1,900 local governments in the country this year.