Clifton Forge, VA (April 5, 2017) - In January of this year, the AlleghanyJournal.com requested some important information from the federal Dept. of the Interior about both federal land ownership in our area and the amount of payments in lieu of taxes that our Alleghany County (and neighboring Bath County) receive. These payments are known as PILT - payments in lieu of taxes. The good news is that the payments normally come each year; the bad news is that this is not sealed in stone and secondly, the amounts are far, far too small.
We requested information on the payments because we knew that annual budget time for area governments was about to begin and public budgets in our region are always tight.
Why is that? Consider for a moment one stunning fact: the federal government OWNS and controls almost 50% of Alleghany County and just OVER 50% in Bath County.
Put yourselves in the place of area public officials for a moment: Imagine that 50% of the land that is normally available to be taxed via private landowners is off the table because the FEDS own it.
Of course, you know what this means: It means that those governments must find revenue from other sources, and they have. In Alleghany County, the personal property tax rate is $5.95 per $100 of assessed valuation. (Add another $6.70 on top of that if you live in Clifton Forge).
The Alleghany County real estate property tax is 72 cents per $100. That is actually moderate, but as we all know, we're not seeing population growth in this region, jobs are scarce and the opportunities for young people have dwindled. To be able to afford more public investment in the kinds of infrastructure that we need to attract more business and industry, we need more cash.
Perhaps it is now time, especially since there is a new president, for the federal government to consider releasing its grasp on the tens of thousands of acres in this county it now owns. If you had attended the last Alleghany County Board of Supervisors meeting, it would have been crystal clear that the Forest Service does not now have, nor does it expect to get, the money to even keep its massive road system at the bare level of maintenance, let alone manage all that monster acreage properly. This is not the fault of its employees, it's the nature of the huge burden that handling about 1.7 MILLION acres in the region creates.
It's time for our representatives in Washington to heed the call not just from our local county governments, but of a huge number of the region's taxpayers to either put up far, far more cash than is currently the case in PILT payments, or both raise those payments AND start divesting itself of several thousand acres each year so that we may grow our tax base here and have the resources to develop.
Right now, the PILT payments from the FEDS amount to a paltry $2.64 per acre. That is pitifully small...it's almost an insult. PILT PAYMENTS?
They SHOULD be called PITIFUL PAYMENTS. It's time to put some pressure on Washington to reverse course and start respecting rural America. The feds can begin right here...and right now.
