It's called PILT -- a strange-sounding acronym for a program that President Trump has proposed cutting. But it's a program many rural counties say is essential to fund firefighting, search and rescue, and other basic services.
Officially called Payment in Lieu of Taxes, PILT compensates counties for the basic services they provide on non-taxable federal lands. The Department of Interior announced this week its largest PILT allocation ever, and California, the largest recipient of PILT money, netted $48 million out of a nationwide total of $464 million.
The Department of Interior touted that payment as continuing "to underscore the Trump Administration’s commitment to rural communities." But Trump's 2018 budget provides only $397 million for the program -- a nearly 17 percent decrease.
"It seems contradictory to express you have the commitment to rural communities when you’re threatening to cut funding," said Rebecca Terrazas-Baxter, director of intergovernmental relations for Imperial County, which gets $3.4 million, or nearly 5 percent of its budget, from PILT payments.
"This is an extremely important funding source. If there were to be any cuts to it, it would significantly impact us," she said.