A meeting last week initially intended to be a simple gathering of the county’s mayors to discuss the sixth-penny tax process became a special Rock Springs City Council meeting to discuss specific needs, according to Green River Mayor Pete Rust.
The meeting took place Tuesday and featured presentations from some groups and cities about specific needs and dollar amounts they would like to request. Rust believes the problem came down to a miscommunication, saying the meeting he wanted to call was simply a discussion between mayors to review the sixth-penny tax process because many of the county’s mayors, with the exception of Tim Kaumo in Rock Springs, have not dealt with the process.
“The special meeting was not the intent of the meeting I called,” Rust said.
With the exception of Green River and Superior, groups and cities presented amounts they may seek sixth-penny funding for. Rust said in total, approximately $120 million in projects were presented. Along with Green River and Superior, some organizations like Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County have yet to propose with potential sixth-penny projects. The total approved by voters in 2012 was approximately $81 million. The tax was removed in 2018 after its total funding amount was reached.
The sixth-penny tax, formally known as an optional 1 percent special purpose tax, is generally used for infrastructure improvements throughout the county. It gets its name by being a second single-penny sales tax initiated on top of Wyoming’s 4 percent tax.
The tax was utilized for improvements at MHSC’s emergency room as well as the construction of its medical office building. It’s also used for street reconstruction and preservation, as well as other uses pertaining to city or county infrastructure. While the tax has been well received by voters in previous iterations, a proposal to fund construction of the Green River Police Department building was defeated in 2012. That project was ultimately completed after the city found alternate methods of funding to pay for construction.
Rust still believes a meeting amongst mayors about the process still needs to take place and said the eventual committee to push a sixth-penny ballot initiative will need representation from the Sweetwater County commissioners.
The county commissioners make the final decision if the sixth-penny requests appear on an election ballot.
Discussion for a possible sixth-penny tax ballot in 2018 was halted when the commissioners informally announced they wouldn’t consider a new tax at that time, claiming residents needed a break from the tax. Rust said one of the criticisms made about that 2018 discussion was the commissioners weren’t initially involved.
“The county commissioners said ‘include us early,’ I think we should,” Rust said.
GR’s sixth-penny projects
While there has been some general discussion about uses for another sixth-penny tax in Green River, Rust says formal discussions between the Green River City Council and the city’s department heads hasn’t occurred yet.
“We haven’t had any discussions between the Council and the department heads about sixth penny,” Rust said.
He said those discussions will take place soon, saying City Administrator Reed Clevenger has asked for potential projects from city departments.
Regardless, there are some projects that will likely be brought up when those talks start.
Some neighborhoods in Green River have streets that need to be repaired or resurfaced.
The city also continues to move forward with its plan to build a wastewater treatment facility to replace the aging sewer lagoons it currently operates.
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