The Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge, a 30,700-acre property in Orrock, Santiago and Blue Hill Twp., was established in 1965. As a government-owned property,  it is tax exempt.

 

But each year since 1976, the federal government has allocated money to compensate counties and states for public lands that are not on the tax rolls.  PILT (Payment In Lieu of Taxes) is money the county receives every year to help offset costs incurred by counties for services provided to federal employees and the users of public lands.

 

Depending on the type of public land, PILT can be used to offset costs for education, waste disposal, law enforcement, search and rescue, firefighting and environmental compliance.

 

PILT is only a fraction of what businesses or homeowners would pay if the land was developed or farmed. It has gradually increased over the years, but nowhere near the amount taxpayers would have contributed.

 

This week at the county board meeting, the auditor/treasurers department presented a history of PILT payments the county has received over the past 27 years.

 

In 1988, the county received just $44,391 in PILT. In 2004, the county received its highest amount of PILT - $132,778. That would have amounted to about $4.42 an acre.

 

Those numbers have gone up and down over the last 10 years. 

 

In May, the county got its most recent payment of $110,637. 

 

The county divided its share of $54,894.99 among the Great River Regional Library, public works, the History Center, capital improvement, welfare, youth detention and debt service.

 

Some went to the ditch authority, the hospital district and the Regional Rail Authority.

 

The remainder was distributed to local government and school districts. Blue Hill Twp. received the highest amount at $8,647.46. Santiago got $5,964.30. Orrock received $1,744.28 and Becker Twp. got $294.45.

 

School Dist. 477 (Princeton) received the most of any school at $19,124.34. Big Lake School Dist. 727 got $11,194.40. Becker Schools (Dist. 726) received $3,801.87 and Dist. 728 in Elk River got 930.45.

 

The county also received the first half of its Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) Prevention Aid money ($36,480) to be used by the Soil & Water Conservation District in the prevention of AIS. The county is expecting to receive the second payment in December.