Christy Lattin
Churchill County received more revenue than expected this year from federal Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) and the state’s Consolidated Tax (CTX) distribution, giving officials additional flexibility in the 2025–2026 fiscal budget.
PILT payments, which compensate counties for lost property tax revenue due to federally owned, tax-exempt lands, totaled $3,071,354 for fiscal year 2025—about $296,000 more than the $2.78 million the county had budgeted. An additional $39,296 in excess revenue from the Debt Service Fund brought the total surplus to $335,650.
County commissioners voted at their Sept. 17 meeting to transfer those funds into the Parks and Recreation budget to help erase a negative fund balance. Parks and Rec was initially budgeted at $400,000, but with the new transfer, its funding level rises to $735,650.
CTX revenues, derived from a combination of six state-level taxes including sales and use taxes, came in at $9,112,693, roughly $425,000 above budget. Those additional funds will be allocated to Social Services and Parks and Recreation, according to the county comptroller.
Not all revenues exceeded expectations, however. Geothermal royalties, generated from leases on public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, fell slightly below projections. Churchill County budgeted $875,000 in geothermal income but collected about $26,987 less. County staff will adjust the General Fund, Debt Service Fund and Building Reserve Fund to reflect the shortfall.
The county receives 25% of federal geothermal rents and royalties, with 50% going to the state and 25% to the U.S. Treasury.
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