It is a portion of nearly $645 million dollars in Payments in Lieu of Taxes or PILT money paid to nearly two-thousand state and local governments to defray the costs of maintaining important community services.
A news release from the Interior Department on Tuesday announced the amounts being paid out, including more than $46.5 million to Montana for the nearly 27.5 million acres of federal land in the state.
Flathead County will receive the largest payment of just over $4 million dollars ($4,001,549). Second is Lewis and Clark County with $3.3 million dollars ($3,335,902), and third is Missoula County with $2.9 million dollars ($2,942,190).
Treasure County will receive the smallest check of $374 dollars for 748 acres of federal land.
The payments are calculated based on the number of acres of federal land within each county or jurisdiction and the population of that area.
Since PILT payments began in 1977, DOI has distributed more than $12.6 billion dollars to the states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the US Virgin Islands.
