Montezuma County commissioners press congressman on PILT, SRS and Upper Dolores NCA

Congressman Jeff Hurd (R-Colo.) met with the Montezuma County Board of County Commissioners in Cortez to hear local concerns about federal land management, Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) and the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program, and to discuss a possible Upper Dolores National Conservation Area (NCA).

Hurd said he sits on the House Natural Resources Committee and the Energy and Minerals Subcommittee and that he is working with colleagues on legislation that would move BLM headquarters functions back to western Colorado and would reverse nine resource-management plans issued during the prior administration. "We should have the people who make the decisions about our public lands here in the West where the public lands are located," Hurd said.

The county commissioners emphasized the local budget impact of uncertain PILT and SRS funding. Commissioners described a multidecade formula that, they say, yields unpredictable payments and reduces PILT when counties receive mineral lease revenues. "If you just knew you were going to get 100% of what…