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Show Millions received from BLM Payments the payments, allocations can be as much as 75 cents an acre. All funds for the in lieu of taxes payments are processed by the BLM because it is the primary administrator of the public lands. Over the years, Congress has passed various laws to help state and local governments recoup lost revenue on tax-exempt federal land, including the in lieu payments. During fiscal year 1979, over $r00 million was paid to states and local governments under various programs administered by a number of federal agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, the National Forest Service, and the Fish and Wildlife Service. Ser-vice. The $600 million includes in-cludes Bureau of Land Management payments totaling $388 million. In lieu of taxes, more than seven million dollars is being paid to Utah counties by the Bureau of Land Management. Box Elder County is receiving $654,066 for the largest payment to any county in the state with Tooele County receiving $527,042 for the next highest payment. Iron County is receiving $386,732. " Utah ranks third in the nation for in lieu payments. Only California and New Mexico are receiving higher payments. These payments, added to payments made earlier this year for certain tax exempt federal lands, bring the total payments to local governments in Utah during fiscal year 1979 to nearly nine million dollars. Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus said that payments totaling $87.9 million are being paid by the BLM to 1,600 government units in the nation which have certain tax-exempt federal lands within their boundaries. The payments, together with payments made earlier this year, bring the total amount paid to local governments for these lands during fiscal year 1979 to $103.9 million. The payment program provides funds to local governments to partially offset the fiscal impact of certain tax-exempt federal lands within their boundaries. boun-daries. The payments supplement other federal land payments received by the local units of government. govern-ment. "The in lieu of taxes payments should not be confused with other payments made by the BLM and other agencies annually to various states and local governments as their share of revenues derived from leasing of the public lands for timber cutting, mineral extraction and grazing," said Secretary Andrus. The funds appropriated by Congress for the "in lieu of tax" payments in FY 1979 are allocated under a formula for-mula which establishes maximum and minimum allocations to eligible units of government and considerations are made based on acreage, population, and other revenue producing programs such as existing timber, grazing, and mineral lease payments. Under the formula set for |