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Interior Department pays Arizona $43.5 mil in lieu of property taxes

The Interior Department just announced annual payments to offset property tax revenue that Arizona counties cannot collect from exempt federal lands.

The total of roughly $43.5 million is a slight increase from last year.

Arizona has more than 28 million acres of federal land.

Examples of places immune to local property taxes are the Grand Canyon, Chiricahua National Monument and Kofa wildlife refuge.

The Interior Department gives each of Arizona's 15 counties a yearly sum of money to help cover the cost for key local services, such as fire prevention.

Mohave County has by far the most acreage of federal land in Arizona. Yet, Mohave County gets slightly less money than Yuma County, which gets more than $4 million.

Maricopa County’s share is about $3.8 million.

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Matthew Casey has won Edward R. Murrow awards for hard news and sports reporting since he joined KJZZ as a senior field correspondent in 2015.