Memorandum
Date: May 9, 2023
To: The Honorable Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: Jessica Pyska, Chair, Lake County Board of Supervisors
Bruno Sabatier, District 2 Supervisor
Stephen L. Carter, Jr., Assistant County Administrative Officer
Matthew Rothstein, Deputy County Administrative Officer
Subject: Consideration of One-Time Dedication of 1% of Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Funding (LATCF, $30,607.51) to Support Establishment of a National Center for Public Lands Counties
Executive Summary:
As your Board will be aware, the signatories of this Memo collectively represented the County of Lake at the California State Association of Counties’ (CSAC’s) 2023 Legislative Conference. During this conference, Supervisor Pyska and Deputy County Administrative Officer, Matthew Rothstein, attended a Rural Caucus Meeting, at which Mono County’s District 4 Supervisor, and CSAC’s delegate to the National Association of Counties’ (NACo’s) Western Interstate Region Board (WIR, https://www.naco.org/advocacy/western-interstate-region), John Peters, presented a request on behalf of NACo that Counties consider a one-time dedication of 1% of Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Funding (LATCF) toward establishment of a National Center for Public Lands Counties.
Your Board will be aware, there are over 400,000 acres (630+ square miles) of total Public Lands within Lake County’s geographic borders. This constitutes approximately half of our land mass.
Lake County encompasses approximately 849,670 acres (1,327.6 square miles)
• Clear Lake occupies roughly 40,000 acres (62 square miles)
Total Public Landmass in Lake County: 403,468 acres (630.35 square miles)
• Local Govt: 8,582 acres (13.4 square miles)
• Tribal Nations: 1,117 acres (1.75 square miles)
• USFS: 253,848 acres (396.6 square miles)
• BLM: 121,504 acres (189.85 square miles)
• State: 18,417 acres (28.75 square miles)
The County receives Payments In-Lieu of Taxes (PILT), in consideration of potential revenues lost due to State and Federal Public Lands being nontaxable; this recognizes certain service needs and obligations arise consequent to those Publicly-maintained lands, and a dominant revenue source to meet this needs (i.e. Property Taxes) is not available. State PILT payments are categorically permissive, not required:
<https://www.doi.gov/pilt>
https://www.rcrcnet.org/state-payment-lieu-taxes-pilt#:~:text=California's%20Payment%2DIn%2DLieu%2D,property%20for%20wildlife%20management%20areas <https://www.rcrcnet.org/state-payment-lieu-taxes-pilt>.
Similar to Geothermal Royalty payments, State and Federal PILT is continually subject to Legislative debate, and there is not currently a research institution dedicated to providing data to help public agencies and Federal legislators understand the impacts on local communities of federally-owned lands (both from the standpoint of encouraging revenue through amenities like National Parks and Monuments and costs to local governments). The National Center for Public Lands would be dedicated to filling this critical information gap, and their fundraising goal is $15M over two years.
The work of this Center, if successfully established, would support quality decision-making at all levels of government, particularly in the areas of public land use and conservation, community stability and economic development.
NACo and CSAC are asking that Lake County consider dedicating $30,607.51 in Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Funding (LATCF), which was appropriated via the American Rescue Plan Act, but distinct from direct allocations to counties. This constitutes 1% of Lake County’s total LATCF allocation ($3,060,750.78).
No requests for ongoing financial support for this Center are anticipated.
Supervisors Pyska, Sabatier and staff recommend your Board approve dedication of these funds and the attached Letter, and authorize Chair Pyska to sign. CSAC has asked Counties to commit prior to the WIR Board meeting of May 17, 2023. Allocation of these funds for this purpose would ultimately be effectuated through the FY 2023-24 Budget Process.
We collectively hope the attached materials will support your decision-making.
If not budgeted, fill in the blanks below only:
Estimated Cost: ________ Amount Budgeted: ________ Additional Requested: ________ Future Annual Cost: ________
Purchasing Considerations (check all that apply): ☐ Not applicable
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☐ For Technology Purchases: Vetted and Supported by the Technology Governance Committee <http://lcnet.co.lake.ca.us/Assets/Intranet/Intranet+Forms/Information+Technology/AdvPlan.pdf> (“Yes,” if checked)
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☒ Well-being of Residents ☒ Public Safety ☒ Disaster Prevention, Preparedness, Recovery
☒ Economic Development ☐ Infrastructure ☐ County Workforce
☒ Community Collaboration ☐ Business Process Efficiency ☐ Clear Lake
Recommended Action: Approve Letter of Commitment to one-time dedication of 1% of LATCF Funding ($30,607.51) to support establishment of a National Center for Public Lands Counties