Baker County to receive $2.2 million in federal PILT funds

Baker County will receive $2,249,689 in federal payments in lieu of taxes, the largest share in Northeastern Oregon, as Oregon counties split $52,016,022 in 2026 PILT funding. Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden announced the statewide total on Monday, June 29, and the federal table shows Baker County tied to 1,016,405 acres of federal land.

PILT, short for payments in lieu of taxes, is meant to offset the property-tax losses counties face when large blocks of land are owned by the federal government and cannot be taxed locally. The U.S. Department of the Interior says the program can help pay for firefighting, police protection, schools, roads and search-and-rescue operations, all services that matter in a county like Baker, where the land base is unusually dominated by public ownership.

That dependence is clear in the county’s own geography. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service data puts Baker County at about 1,977,000 acres total, with roughly 964,000 acres of private land and about 51% of the county publicly owned. In a place where more than half the land is outside the property-tax rolls, the annual PILT payment is one of the most important federal checks flowing into the county budget.

This year’s payment is also a sharp jump from recent years. Baker County received $1,647,739 in 2025, while the statewide Oregon total was $31,027,890. The 2026 Oregon total rose to $52,016,022, giving county officials a much larger federal offset to work with as they build their next budget. For commissioners, that still leaves real choices: the money can help cushion roads, public safety and other basic county functions, but it does not replace the tax base that would exist if those federal acres were private land.

The Interior Department says PILT payments began in 1977, and the department has distributed $13.4 billion nationwide since then. In Baker County, where federal land is a defining feature of the landscape and the county budget, the 2026 payment is both a boost and a reminder of how much local government depends on federal land compensation.