WHEATLAND — The Platte County Commission decided to participate in the PILT payments class action lawsuit against the federal government during the commission’s regular meeting July 3.
PILT, or Payment In Lieu of Taxes, funding compensates counties for the property taxes they are unable to collect because of non-taxable federal lands within their borders. The class action alleges the federal government has underpaid counties’ PILT for fiscal years 2015-2017, according to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims’ order dated April 26 that certifies Kane County, Utah v. United States as a class action case.
Court documents explain Congress failed to appropriate enough funds to the Department of the Interior to make full PILT payments during fiscal years 2015-2017. The court dismissed the federal government’s motion to dismiss the suit and found the government liable for Kane County’s underpayments, according to the court order filed Dec. 21, 2017.

Sept. 14 is the deadline for counties to opt in to the class action.
County Attorney Doug Weaver, who was not at the county’s July 3 meeting, advised County Clerk Chris Kanwischer there was “no down side” to participating in the class action, Kanwischer said. Court documents indicate counties do not have to pay for counsel or other costs.
Kanwischer said Platte County stands to gain just over $10,000.
PILT payment amounts are posted to the U.S. Department of the Interior website at https://www.nbc.gov/pilt. According to the site, Platte County has 106,455 acres of federal land within its boundaries, and its fiscal year 2018 PILT payment was $287,746.
Class counsel — Smith, Currie and Hancock LLP — posts court documents and other information about the PILT suit on its website at www.smithcurrie.com. According to the site, eight Wyoming counties have opted in to the suit so far: Platte, Converse, Crook, Hot Springs, Laramie, Lincoln, Sweetwater and Washakie.