Jim Evans and the Battle for PILT
May 15, 2024
I did a double take when I saw the headline, “Meeker County to call on Congress to pay up for federal lands.” I thought it must be a typo because Meeker is a town not a county (it’s in Rio Blanco County). The subtitle repeated it: “Analysis of public lands in Meeker County found that federal revenues fall short of what property taxes would generate.”
I wondered what reporter made such an error, but then noticed it was from the West Central Minnesota Tribune, an area where there is in fact a “Meeker County,” an entirely different place named for an entirely different historical figure. But the headline certainly makes clear that the two communities have something in common. South Central Minnesota and Western Colorado are both largely rural, contain federal lands, and do not get their fair share of Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT).