Flathead County has received $2.53 million from the federal government under a long-running program that compensates local governments for nontaxable federal land.

Montana’s slice of the payments-in-lieu-of-taxes pie is more than $30 million this year, of which Flathead’s allocation is the largest. Other counties with sizable amounts of federal land include Ravalli County, which received $2.2 million; and Lewis and Clark County, at $2.4 million.

Lincoln County received $635,059 for its 1.7 million acres of federal land. Sanders County’s take was $333,584.

Some 70 percent of the 5,088 square miles of land in Flathead County, or 2.4 million acres, is federally owned.

Each year the county earmarks $500,000 of the payments-in-lieu money to the road department, and that will continue this year, county Finance Director Sandy Carlson said. The rest of Flathead’s 2016 allocation will be used to help pay for the county’s South Campus Building being completed south of the Courthouse, and the old jail facility that will house the County Attorney’s Office.

Next year the county commissioners intend to set aside the federal allocation — minus the $500,000 earmark for county roads — for construction of a new jail, according to county Administrator Mike Pence.

The payments-in-lieu program is reserved for rural local governments that contain non-taxable federal lands to provide vital services such as public safety, housing, social services and transportation. These jurisdictions provide significant support for national parks, wildlife refuges and recreation areas throughout the year.

In recent years Flathead County has used the federal money for projects such as the $2.6 million main Courthouse renovation and construction of a parking lot next to the Earl Bennett Building, in addition to the two building projects wrapping up this summer.

Some payments-in-lieu money also was used to buy the building that now houses the Montana State University Extension Service and 4-H program.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at [email protected].