Issue Position: School Trust Lands

Issue Position

I was briefed on school trust lands soon after coming into the legislature. The idea behind it is that the federal government holds about 2/3rds of the land in Utah and will not allow development on it, so the state and counties are not able to collect taxes on that land -- taxes that would benefit education in Utah. The federal government does, at its discretion, compensate Utah for this by giving us PILT money ("payment in lieu of taxes"). This money goes into an education fund, but it isn't very much given the number of acres the federal government holds. Last year, they paid us only a dollar an acre, for example. Utahns pay a lot more than that for quarter acre lots. Besides not paying very much (at all), the money is never certain. They can decide not to pay PILT at all during the federal budget process, and we all know how contentious that process is. The Commission on Federalism (I am a big fan!) is working to make payment of PILT mandatory while simultaneously increasing the amount.

Source