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Show t flouse committee votes to restore nvments in lieu of taxes ... K ' 1 ., t0 the Vernal Express , Helene C. Monberg : " , lThe House Interior ''Susedtogoalongwiththe ' ' ion on some key Ad-' Ad-' :?iIlistr Ironosals this past week of V-S55S I West's public land ' and states. ; nted an amendment by Rep. ! 8accep- R-Utah, to increase the :ar!d in 1982 fiscal year t0 Ties by the federal b t from $45 million, as pro- ' &fL Reagan Administration, to , This is about the same sum provided for the current ; imts' yThe amendment was jcJ); 1 ' "yted 27-11- ' 1 u unanimously to ax the Water ; Council and the Office of Research and Technology, as tTthe Administration, but it C the state water grant pro-J,bv pro-J,bv the Interior Department. Interior's budget office, ' jJJs come to $115,000 for each and territory. '"' against an amendment by Ik Cheney, R-Wyo., to operate " llntain public park lands at $45 Tin 1982 offered as a substitute to Client by Rep. John H.Seiberl-X H.Seiberl-X f to authorize $434,694,000 ,Ari land acquisitions out of the IJand Water Conservation Fund. it h Cheney amendment was m by a vote of 20-15, that .! jtically knocked out the Seiberl- l -anendment. J committee votes came on March " fo battle over the payment in lieu of ' aes (PILT) payments has become al because it appears at the pre-' pre-' lime at least that public land ; ; will get only the minimum pro-yby pro-yby law 10 cents an acre for ti ial land within their boundaries. Administration is now attempting tork out a new formula to use for t- ijting both PILT payments and -i jvnents to states revenues derived -u public lands. By counting more p of revenues and by improving the 3ia collection procedures by which avments are made to the states. Interior Secretary James G. Watt v(B to increase revenues to the states . . a public land substantially in 1982. 'Z 2 budget revision on March 10 instated in-stated these payments would jump by , "J n million, bringing them to $649 ;,. jllion. it; Estates have shown a reluctance to IP. ate these revenues mainly from ei, ..Tiber harvest and oil and gas leases public lands with their own public l: ii counties. So Congress is under :r (e rum the National Association ilmties (NACO), which had j, here this week, to increase (i a?ILT payments. p . ta the resolution to provide la r.iorized ceilings for appropriations a : at before the House Interior Corn-Si Corn-Si aet this past week, the main skir-i's skir-i's stag came over the PILT payments . iii ?4i Manual Lujan, R-N.M., as the c iinj Republican on the House In-&' In-&' w Committee, argued for the President's position minimum a: Stents totalling $45 million to the ,,:! Iceland counties, as provided in the ) S Payment in-Lieu of Taxes Act 0 ?1T). Marriott, Seiberling and Rep. Wogovsek, D-Colo., argued against Administration position. Seiberling the authorized ceiling in the act i(, '"(met, the counties should be get-!H5 get-!H5 million in PILT payments '. Uncle Sam. );: vsek backed up Seiberling. iii. vsek said in an interview on th 12, "Ten cents an acre won't do ; for Hinsdale County in my district with 96 percent of its land in federal ownership. As an annual payment pay-ment to Hinsdale, 10 cents an acre from Uncle Sam is just a drop in the bucket," Kogovsek said. He voted for the Marriott and against the Cheney amendments. The Administration has been under extreme ex-treme pressure to increase PILT payments. The Carter Administration requested only a token payment last year for the 1981 fiscal year, but Congress Con-gress voted $108 million. The Carter Administration Ad-ministration requested nothing in PILT payments for 1982 fiscal year, citing the budget constraints. The Reagan Administration provided $45 million, after Republican freshmen Congressmen in the House and a number of Democratic Senators including in-cluding Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo., pro- tested the sipping of the program by the Carter Administration. First the Reagan Administration promised the PILT payments to the public land counties coun-ties would total $50 million, Budget Director David A. Stockman told Rep. Hank Brown, R-Colo., president of the House freshman Congressman last month. With further belt-tightening, the amount was reduced to 10 cents an acre, or $45 million, for 1982 for public land counties. The Administration may seek an amendment to the PILT and shared revenues laws which would increase both the payments to public land counties coun-ties and to the states. "We are considering consider-ing various proposals now to present to the Secretary (Watt)," William D. Bet-tenberg, Bet-tenberg, Interior's budget officer, said here on March 11. |
