The Troup County Commission voted Tuesday to join a federal lawsuit that hopes to recoup funding for federal land in the county.

A court decision in Kane County, Utah, ruled that the U.S. government has underpaid counties in Payments In-Lieu of Taxes across the nation for three years. In laymen’s term’s, the government hasn’t paid counties what it should for federal use of county land, and now counties are joining together in a class action suit to get what they believed they’re owed.

A quick Google search shows just how many counties around the country are joining the suit.

All counties have to do to join is opt-in. There’s no cost, and it could mean regaining some lost funding.

It’s sort of like playing the lottery with a free ticket. At the end of the day, you aren’t guaranteed of anything, but it could end up being really significant, although it’s unclear how much money any county, including Troup County, might be able to recoup.

It’s estimated that 90,000 acres across Troup County are used as federal land, but it’s hard to say what that’ll mean when this all ends.

We applaud the commission for joining in and seeing what happens.