Odd Ball SCM1006 - 512R - S Ver of SCM1006

Senate Engrossed

State of Arizona

Senate

Fifty-first Legislature

Second Regular Session

2014

SENATE CONCURRENT MEMORIAL 1006

A CONCURRENT MEMORIAL

urging the United States Congress to provide full, sustainable funding for the Payment In Lieu of Taxes program for Fiscal Year 2015 and into the future.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

To the Congress of the United States of America:

Your memorialist respectfully represents:

Whereas, the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program was established in 1976 to offset costs incurred by counties for services provided to the federal government and to the users of federal lands located within a county; and

Whereas, the State of Arizona is composed of 113,417 square miles of land, of which 42% is federally owned, nontribal land that is unavailable for economic development and not part of the property tax base. Less than 17% of the land in Arizona is private land; and

Whereas, the national average PILT payment in fiscal year 2013 was $0.66 per acre, which is far below the amount that federal lands would return through both value-based taxation and economic development; and

Whereas, counties are required to provide law enforcement, search and rescue, emergency services, road building and maintenance, and other community services on, or associated with, tax-exempt federal public lands; and

Whereas, Congress failed to provide funding for the PILT program in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014, jeopardizing $32 million in PILT funding for Arizona counties and causing great uncertainty about county finances and services in fiscal year 2014 and fiscal year 2015; and

Whereas, a one-year extension of PILT funding for fiscal year 2014 was included in the farm bill conference report, but the fate of fiscal year 2015 funding is still unknown; and

Whereas, a lack of PILT funding places the large, unsustainable burden of providing services on federal lands squarely on the backs of local county taxpayers, while the presence of that federal land creates barriers to further economic opportunities; and

Whereas, failure to secure PILT funding for fiscal year 2015 and into the future for Arizona counties in a timely manner will critically impact the budget process and structural solvency of counties and will substantially compromise their ability to provide essential services; and

Whereas, the federal government has the duty to reimburse local jurisdictions for the presence of federal public lands.

Wherefore your memorialist, the Senate of the State of Arizona, the House of Representatives concurring, prays:

1. That the United States Congress provide full, sustainable funding for the PILT program for fiscal year 2015 and into the future to help create financial stability within Arizona's counties.

2. That the United States Congress work with the State of Arizona and county governments to identify and implement policies to promote economic development on, or associated with, public lands.

3. That the Secretary of State of the State of Arizona transmit a copy of this Memorial to the President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and each Member of Congress from the State of Arizona.