A meeting Tuesday night amongst community leaders regarding a potential sixth-penny improvements tax revealed the tentative list of projects seeking funding is valued at approximately $230 million.
That amount would take more than 12 years to pay off at current sales-tax receipt rates, though it is unlikely a ballot initiative for the full amount would make it on the 2020 ballot. The Sweetwater County commissioners, who ultimately decide if a tax will appear on the ballot, may decide to request a funding limit to the tax and for cities and towns to limit their funding requests as part of discussions about the tax.
Along with infrastructure improvements proposed by municipal governments, the YWCA, Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County and the Southwest Wyoming Regional Airport also seek funding for projects.
According to Pete Rust, Mayor of Green River, the Green River portion of the requests comes to approximately $70 million.
One person who isn’t sure if the total amount will fly with voters is Tim Savage, a Rock Springs Councilman.
“When you swing for the fences, you usually strike out,” Savage said. “I can’t see it being approved.”
Savage believes voters would be more willing to fund a projects list totaling around $90-$100 million dollars, less than half the value of projects presented at the meeting.
For Green River City Administrator Reed Clevenger, the question becomes how cities can fund infrastructure work to maintain necessary things like streets, water and sewer service. As construction costs grow and revenue for the cities continues to decline, Green River may fall behind in those maintenance projects even with the sixth-penny tax. That doesn’t include quality of life improvements to the committees either.
One issue Rust raised is how quality of life impacts the recruitment efforts for area mines, which are the largest contributors to the county’s economy. Rust said local industry have quality of life needs that could be addressed with the tax and those companies should be included in the discussion about a potential sixth-penny sales tax.
He believes quality of life improvements in Green River and Rock Springs could get support from industry and cautions other local officials not to make assumptions based on what has happened in the past.
For Rust, the total dollar amount is a starting point and thinks a guiding figure from the county commissioners could help everyone involved in the process. He said the city will re-examine its proposed project amounts and suspects the Rock Springs representatives will do the same. He also believes Sweetwater County Treasurer Robb Slaughter should provide a tax overview for the communities to better predict what the estimated monthly sales-tax revenues should amount to.
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