Sparsely-populated rural counties with large amounts of public land stand to lose the most if the Trump Administration succeeds in cutting funding to the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program.

Emily Guerin reports on the uncertain fate of the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program, which funds fire fighting, search and rescue, and other basic services on non-taxable federal lands.
"The Department of Interior announced this week its largest PILT allocation ever, and California, the largest recipient of PILT money, netted $48 million out of a nationwide total of $464 million," reports Guerin. But while the Interior Department touted this year's allocation as evidence of the Trump Administration's support for rural communities, the budget administration's draft budget for 2018, released earlier this year, would cut that spending by almost 17 percent.
Guerin's coverage focuses on the rural areas of Southern California, such as Imperial County. For more on the specific effects of Trump's budget around the rest of the country, see an interactive map showing how the president's budget proposal cuts payments for every county in the nation, created by Mark Haggerty, an economist with Headwaters Economics.
The possible decrease in PILT funding was not the only bad news regarding federal support for rural communities to hit the wires in June. Earlier this month, Planetizen shared a story about USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue abolishing the position of Under Secretary of Rural Development—a position that oversees the Office of Rural Development and its $216 billion budget.
FULL STORY: Cash for rural Western counties could dry up under Trump budget

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails
Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

Bend, Oregon Zoning Reforms Prioritize Small-Scale Housing
The city altered its zoning code to allow multi-family housing and eliminated parking mandates citywide.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

LA Denies Basic Services to Unhoused Residents
The city has repeatedly failed to respond to requests for trash pickup at encampment sites, and eliminated a program that provided mobile showers and toilets.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
planning NEXT
Appalachian Highlands Housing Partners
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie