Local Officials Look For More State Forestland Money

Northern Wisconsin counties are once again pushing the state for higher payments on county forestlands, but a bill under consideration would likely prevent any increase.

Cities, towns and villages receive annual payments from the state for lands that are part of county forests. The payments are called payments in lieu of taxes (PILT). The money goes to replace property taxes that would have been paid if the land were privately owned.

Bayfield County administrator Mark Abeles-Allison said they’d like the state to increase payments to $1 an acre to help local governments with providing essential services like emergency responders and roads maintenance. In comparison, local governments receive $2.55 per acre in PILT payments for national forestland.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources legislative liaison Tim Gary said it’s unlikely payments will go up. He said a bill overhauling the state’s Managed Forest Law Program would allocate more money from the state’s forestry account for local governments. The bill would provide local governments with $4.6 million in fiscal year 2017 and increase over time to $7 million in 2019.

“For closed acreage fees to communities that have managed forest law acreage that’s closed to public access. It would go proportionately to those communities that have closed acreage,” he said. “That is going to take up — if enacted into law — a majority of the balance of the forestry account. I think that would, I would guess, take off the table the opportunity for an increase in the acreage share payment to townships.”

Both sets of funds would go to local governments, but the bill would allow more money to go to towns from fees on lands closed to public access.

Lawmakers introduced a bill in 2013 to increase PILT payments from $.30 per acre to $.55 per acre. The bill failed and no similar legislation has been introduced.

The Assembly is set to vote on the bill overhauling the state’s managed forest land Thursday.