Calendar Year 2016 - 2025 Linear Right-of-Way Rental Schedule
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20240
http://www.blm.gov/
October 16, 2015
In Reply Refer To:
2800/2880 (300) P
EMS TRANSMISSION 10/21/2015
Instruction Memorandum No. 2016-008
Expires: 09/30/2019
To: All Field Office Officials
From: Assistant Director, Energy, Minerals and Realty Management
Subject: Calendar Year 2016 - 2025 Linear Right-of-Way Rental Schedule
Program Area: Right-of-Way (ROW) Management.
Purpose: This Instruction Memorandum (IM) provides the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Lands and Realty Program with the new rental schedule for the 2016 - 2025 Calendar Year (CY) period. This IM also directs BLM field offices to provide guidance consistent with 43 CFR 2806.15 to any Rights-of-Way (ROW) holder seeking relief from hardship caused by zone reassignments or zone value change.
Policy/Action: In accordance with ROW regulations at 43 CFR 2806.20(a), the BLM will adjust the per-acre linear rent values in the schedule annually and it will revise the schedule at the end of each 10-year period. This IM provides the 10-year adjustment due at the beginning of CY 2016. Beginning in CY 2016, the BLM field offices will use the attachments to this IM to determine linear rental rates. Attachment 1 provides the annual per-acre rental rate and adjustment for each zone. Attachment 2 provides the values and zone designation for each county. A worksheet for determining rental values is provided in Attachment 3.
Prior to generating CY 2016 ROW rent bills, offices should review the Unpaid Bill Report located on the Collections and Billing System (CBS) web site. The report contains ROW authorizations that have unpaid rent, late payment fees, or administrative fees. The unpaid bills appearing in the CBS report must be resolved prior to issuing the CY 2016 rent bill. The report is not available on the BLM external web site.
Delegated authority to waive or reduce rent resides with the BLM State Director. Field offices shall provide guidance consistent with 43 CFR 2806.15 to any ROW holder seeking relief from hardship caused by zone reassignments or zone value change.
Timeframe: Effective September 1, 2015.
Budget Impact: There is no budget impact.
Background: Pursuant to the ROW Regulations at 43 CFR 2806.22(b) and 43 CFR 2885.19(a)(2), the BLM recently completed its planned 10-year revision to the fee schedule for linear ROWs across public land. The 2012 National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Census data was the basis for local market value. The 2016-2025 fee schedule revises the number of county zones and the per-acre zone values for all U.S. counties and geographic areas as well as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The local market values were bracketed into 15 zones using the percentile approach for a normal distribution. Next, rental rates for the 15 zones were calculated for 2016 as a product of the per-acre zone value, multiplied by the encumbrance factor, multiplied by rate of return, multiplied by the 10-year average IPD-GDP from 2004 to 2013. Finally, an additional 2.1 percent was added for each succeeding year through 2025.
Manual/Handbook Sections Affected: This IM transmits policy that will be incorporated into BLM Manuals MS-2800 and MS-2880 during the next revision.
Coordination: This IM was coordinated with the Office of the Solicitor, the Office of Valuation Services, National Renewable Energy Office, Division of Lands, Realty and Cadastral Survey, the National Operations Center, and the U.S. Forest Service.
Contact: If you have any questions concerning the content of this IM, please contact me at 202-208-4201, or your staff may contact Stephen Fusilier, Branch Manager, Branch Manager, Rights-of Way, at 202-912-7148, (sfusilie@blm.gov), Division of Lands, Realty and Cadastral Survey. Or you may contact Georgeann Smale at 202-912-7319, (gsmale@blm.gov), or Jayme Lopez at 202-912-7547, ( j06lopez@blm.gov).
Signed by: Authenticated by:
Michael Nedd Robert M. Williams
Assistant Director Division of IRM Governance,WO-860
Energy, Minerals and Realty Management
5 Attachments:
1 - Calendar Years 2016 - 2025 Per-Acre Rent Schedule (1 p)
3 - Rental Determination Worksheets Calendar Year 2016 (3 pp)
4 - Implicit Price Deflator Gross Domestic Product Index Change Chart (1 p)