By any stretch of the imagination, $161 million is an eye-popping amount. This is especially true considering it’s the estimated cost of all the various projects and infrastructure work the City of Green River has identified in a recent list submitted to the county as part of the specific-purpose tax local leaders intend to propose to voters.
It’s a high number, but it isn’t hard to see how we got here. The city has historically had a very difficult time accomplishing capital infrastructure projects without some kind of external funding. This was true during the mid 2000s when a booming economy also meant a need for more services that ate up fund from the general budget. Very limited support from the Wyoming Legislature meant the only choice for Green River and other Sweetwater County governments was to impose a special purpose sales tax to handle the issues they could not otherwise deal with. Despite another special purpose tax in 2012, the city fell well behind where it wanted to be in basic streets maintenance and that’s simply a fact of both inflation and the limited time frame for the special purpose tax. Other issues have developed as well as a result of being unable to maintain infrastructure properly and the end of the functional lifespans of long-running facilities like the current wastewater treatment plant has only added to the costs the city faces. Sure, some projects like a splash park expansion are more geared to quality of life than basic infrastructure, but they’re equally important in making Green River a place people want to move to. The city may be at a crossroads where its leaders have to decide if basic infrastructure should take precedence over quality-of-life improvements. Money is tight and a special purpose tax will never address all the needs throughout Sweetwater County. It might be time to just focus on maintenance until conditions improve.
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