Duffy Calls For Continued Federal Payments To Northern Wisconsin Counties

One northern Wisconsin congressman wants the federal government to continue making payments to local governments that offset property tax losses with federal lands.

Funding for Payment in Lieu of Taxes, or PILT, is set to expire this fall. Republican Rep. Sean Duffy said the funding is crucial to the 7th Congressional District, where much of the tax base is federally owned forest land.

“So making sure we have legislation to continue to those payment programs so that we can accommodate the loss of revenue in counties that don’t have a lot of revenue sources is really important,” Duffy said.

Bayfield County Administrator Mark Abeles-Allison agrees. He said towns in the county rely on payments to help pay for roads and emergency services. He said it would be difficult to make up any loss with state levy limits.

“As a county with a lot of acreage, this is a more serious issue for us,” said Abeles-Allison.

The county has roughly 269,000 acres of national forest land.