§6904 — Title 31 Money and Finance | U.S. Code

Summary

The Secretary of the Interior must pay each year to the local government that collects property taxes where the United States buys an interest in land for the National Park System or National Forest Wilderness Areas. The land must have been subject to local property taxes within the five years before the government bought it. Payments go to the tax-collecting unit (including local units in Alaska outside organized boroughs), and that unit must share the money with the affected towns and school districts in proportion to the tax loss. Recipients can spend the money for any government purpose. Each annual payment lasts for five fiscal years starting the year after the land is bought. Each payment equals 1% of the land interest’s fair market value on the purchase date, but it cannot be higher than the property taxes that were charged on the land in the last fiscal year before the purchase. Any increase in value caused by a rezoning that happened after a law authorized the acquisition cannot be counted in the fair market value. The Secretary may make rules to allow payments in other situations if these rules would not achieve the intended result.

Title 31, §6904

Money and Finance — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In addition to payments the Secretary of the Interior makes under section 6902 of this title, the Secretary shall make a payment for each fiscal year to a unit of general local government collecting and distributing real property taxes (including a unit in Alaska outside the boundaries of an organized borough) in which is located an interest in land that—

(1)the United States Government acquires for—

(A)the National Park System; or

(B)the National Forest Wilderness Areas; and

(2)was subject to local real property taxes within the 5-year period before the interest is acquired.

(b)The Secretary shall make payments only for the 5 fiscal years after the fiscal year in which the interest in land is acquired. Under guidelines the Secretary prescribes, the unit of general local government receiving the payment from the Secretary shall distribute payments proportionally to units and school districts that lost real property taxes because of the acquisition of the interest. A unit receiving a distribution may use a payment for any governmental purpose.

(c)Each yearly payment by the Secretary under this section is equal to one percent of the fair market value of the interest in land on the date the Government acquires the interest. However, a payment may not be more than the amount of real property taxes levied on the property during the last fiscal year before the fiscal year in which the interest is acquired. A decision on fair market value under this section may not include an increase in the value of an interest because the land is rezoned when the rezoning causes the increase after the date of enactment of a law authorizing the acquisition of an interest under subsection (a) of this section.

(d)The Secretary may prescribe regulations under which payments may be made to units of general local government when subsections (a) and (b) of this section will not carry out the purpose of subsections (a) and (b).

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 6904(a)31:1603(a)(1st, 3d sentences).Oct. 20, 1976, Pub. L. 94–565, § 3(a)–(d), 90 Stat. 2663. 31:1603(e).Oct. 20, 1976, Pub. L. 94–565, 90 Stat. 2662, § 3(e); added Oct. 17, 1978, Pub. L. 95–469, § 3(3), 92 Stat. 1322. 6904(b)31:1603(a)(2d sentence), (b), (d). 6904(c)31:1603(c). 6904(d)31:1603(a)(last sentence). In the section, the words “land or” are omitted as being included in “interest in land”. In subsection (a), before clause (1), the words “the Secretary of the Interior makes” are added for clarity. The words “unit of general local government collecting and distributing real property taxes (including a unit in Alaska outside the boundaries of an organized borough)” are substituted for “county” and 31:1603(a)(3d sentence) and (e) to eliminate unnecessary words. The words “the jurisdiction of” are omitted as surplus. In subclause (A), the words “for the Redwood National Park pursuant to subchapter VII of chapter 1 of title 16” are omitted as executed because the Redwood National Park is now part of the National Park System. In subsection (b), the words “The Secretary shall make payments only for the 5 fiscal years after the fiscal year in which the interest in land is acquired” are substituted for 31:1603(b)(1st sentence) and (d) to eliminate unnecessary words. The words “affected” and “for addition to either such systems” are omitted as surplus. The words “receiving a distribution” are added for clarity. In subsection (c), the words “The amount of . . . made . . . fiscal . . . to any unit of local government and affected school districts” are omitted as surplus. The words “by the Secretary” are added for clarity. The words “made for any fiscal year to a unit of local government under subsection (a) of this section”, “assessed and”, “full”, and “for addition to the National Park System or National Forest Wilderness Areas” are omitted as surplus.

§6904 Additional Payments

Summary

Title 31, §6904

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Citations & Metadata