The price to be paid

With legislation to drastically cut property taxes moving forward through the Wyoming Legislature, elected officials in Sweetwater County are speaking out to warn citizens of the potential effects these cuts could have, including the loss of public services and facilities.

Both the Wyoming House of Representatives and Senate have put forward bills to cut residential property taxes. While numbers have varied between a 25% and 50% cut, current bills that are going forward are promoting a 50% cut.

Wyoming House Speaker Pro Tempore Jeremy Haroldson sent out a press release on Tuesday applauding the Senate for the passage of SF0069, a bill with a 50% cut. Haroldson noted that two weeks ago the House also sent a 50% property tax exemption to the Senate in the form of HB0169. Haroldson said "both chambers have demonstrated a willingness to put the people first" and called the bills "critical relief."

"Our legislature believes they have a mandate from you to radically reduce taxes, eliminate government services, and to spend down the investment accounts that pay for 30% of our state operations," Rock Springs Mayor Max Mickelson said in an address to citizens on Monday. "They may be correct. Certainly, they ran on those promises and were elected. Like a timeshare salesman, they left out some details in the fine print."

Mickelson put out his address to citizens in order to explain the potential impact of proposed property cuts, which he said could lead to a $7 million reduction in revenue for the City of Rock Springs. This could mean not being able to fund current services and facilities, which could lead to the closure of facilities like the White Mountain Golf Course, Civic Center, and Recreation Center, or even the elimination of the Rock Springs Fire Department or an inability to address street repair. Additional cuts could also lead to the elimination of partner agencies that are not statutorily required, such as the Urban Renewal Association, Broadway Theater, City Museum, and 90% of snow plowing services, according to Mickelson.

"I cannot overstate how dramatic these service impacts will be," Mickelson said. "We have had a high standard of living for decades. Our home as we know it is imperiled. An informed public is empowered to let their legislators know exactly where they stand."

The City of Green River could be similarly impacted by property tax cuts if they pass the legislature, and city officials have been monitoring these possibilities for some time, according to City Administrator Reed Clevenger.

"Like Rock Springs we are watching the legislature's work constantly and we do have some concern about the potential revenue reductions working their way through the process, and what that may mean for the services provided to the citizens of Green River," Clevenger explained. "Since we do not have a stable source of revenue and our biggest source of revenue is highly guided by the ups and downs of sales and use tax revenues, it is important for us to monitor any legislation that can also impact these and other revenue sources. This is something we have been talking about and monitoring prior to this session all the way into the last primary election, and last year's session where a number of these bills were trying to make it through."

Green River will continue to monitor the legislative session and work with partners like WAM (Wyoming Association of Municipalities) and other local cities and towns to consider potential impacts, according to Clevenger. The city administrator did point out, however, that and many bills fail to move forward while others constantly change as amendments are added. All the bills also have to go through the same process in both chambers before making it to the governor's desk for his signature.

"Given this, we believe it is too early to really estimate impacts effectively but know that if many of the bills currently working their way through the process pass, the City could be looking at revenue reductions of over $1 million," Clevenger explained.

Clevenger pointed to SF0069, "Homeowner Property Tax Exemption," one of the 50% cuts, and explained that if it passes it could result in a revenue loss of approximately $380,000 per year to the City of Green River based on 2024 values. Another bill that could results in a revenue loss of approximately $346,000 per year to the city is SF0136, "Repeal of Sales Tax on Electricity."

"Among the other bills we are watching are HB0282 and SF0161 which have to do with adjusting our property tax system to an acquisition value based system," Clevenger said. "On these bills the revenue losses to local governments is indeterminable, but significant." 

Other bills like HB212 could have also had a significant impact on revenues, but Clevenger noted that this bill did not get introduced, which he said shows that the situation remains fluid.

"We also understand that some of these specific bills hit different revenue components," Clevenger added. "For some, like property tax type bills, they will impact city revenues but other entities that rely more heavily on this revenue source could see far more reaching issues and impacts to what we are currently used to here in our cities, the county, and the state."

Without knowing the ultimate outcomes of legislation, the city can't specifically say what the impacts will be, Clevenger reiterated, but he admitted "we do have some concerns." The City of Green River plans to continue to engage in the process even as developments change on a daily basis, according to Clevenger.

Rock Springs Mayor Mickelson is coordinating Town Hall meetings in order to provide even more information on the potential effects of property tax cuts. The Sweetwater County Board of County Commissioners, City of Green River, Sweetwater County School Districts No. 1 and 2, and other local agencies in the community have been invited to participate and present information at the Town Hall to explain what services could be impacted by cuts.

Currently, the City of Green River is planning to participate in the Town Hall meetings, which are scheduled for Saturday, February 15, with one session from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and another session from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

"We will continue to monitor and better define the impacts as the town hall planed for the 15th approaches and we will work with the City of Rock Springs to understand their totality of impacts as we would experience these similarly if passed," Clevenger said.