Federal PILT funding headed to Henry, Patrick and Franklin counties
MARTINSVILLE — Henry, Patrick and Franklin counties will receive a combined $58,244 in federal Payments in Lieu of Taxes funding this year, part of more than $2.3 million awarded to communities across Virginia's 9th Congressional District.
Griffith
The U.S. Department of the Interior recently announced the annual PILT payments, which are intended to compensate local governments for tax revenue they cannot collect on federally owned land.
Under the latest allocation, Patrick County will receive $27,900, Franklin County will receive $25,626, and Henry County will receive $4,718.
The PILT program was established by Congress in 1976 and began distributing payments in 1977. It provides funding to counties and other local governments that contain tax-exempt federal lands. Because federal property is exempt from local property taxes, the payments are intended to help localities fund services such as law enforcement, fire protection, emergency response, road maintenance and other government functions.
Payments are determined through a federal formula that considers the amount of eligible federal land within a locality, population and certain other federal revenue-sharing payments.
In announcing the funding, U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, said the payments help communities that host federal lands.
“Virginia’s Ninth District is home to numerous local jurisdictions that include federal lands,” Griffith said in a statement. “Because of this arrangement, activities on those lands are tax-exempt and local governments are limited in their collection of tax revenues.”
“I am a proud supporter of the PILT program to help local communities,” he added. “As someone who voted to reauthorize PILT payments, I am delighted to see more than $2.3 million in PILT funds go to Ninth District communities.”
Counties with larger amounts of federal land typically receive larger payments because more acreage is removed from the local tax base. That is reflected in this year's allocations, with mountainous Southwest Virginia counties such as Craig County receiving $417,201, Bland County receiving $271,902 and Smyth County receiving $269,066.
By comparison, Henry, Patrick and Franklin counties contain relatively small amounts of PILT-eligible federal land and therefore receive smaller payments.
Funding for the program is provided through the Interior and Environment Appropriations Act. Griffith noted that Congress included PILT funding in an appropriations package approved in early 2025 and signed into law by President Donald Trump.
