When it came to the Wyoming Legislature’s top non-budget priority this session, lawmakers settled on five bills to address rising residential property taxes.
Altogether, the legislation creates new exemptions for homeowners and certain senior citizens, doubles an existing exemption for veterans, caps annual increases and expands eligibility for a state refund program.
While much of the session was defined by conflict, property tax relief was one area where lawmakers were largely united. The five bills to make it across the finish line received almost unanimous support in their final votes in both chambers.
“The passage of these bills is a monumental victory for the hard-working people of Wyoming, and it is the culmination of a united effort across the entire Legislature,” Sen. Bo Biteman (R-Ranchester), chairman of the Senate Revenue Committee, said in a press release.
The Joint Revenue Committee sponsored three of the five bills that passed. The other two bills were brought by Sen. Ed Cooper (R-Ten Sleep) and Rep. Barry Crago (R-Buffalo).
Property taxes have jumped in much of Wyoming in recent years as home values have increased. But addressing the rising cost for homeowners hasn’t been straightforward for lawmakers. For one, property taxes fund local governments, so cutting them risks drying up revenue for public services.
Another challenge lies in the Wyoming Constitution, which groups residential property in the same tax class as commercial and industrial properties — largely preventing lawmakers from making isolated changes to how homes are taxed. That said, voters will have the opportunity in November to separate residential property into its own category thanks to 2023 legislation.
In the meantime, the fate of all five bills now rests with Gov. Mark Gordon.
“Property tax reform is a complex issue affecting county resources, roads and schools among other issues, yet it is also pressing,” Gordon said in his State of the State address.
“I have no doubt this Legislature will seek a balance that properly addresses citizens’ concerns about rising assessed valuations without leaving counties or schools high and dry.”
Gordon can take one of three actions on each bill — sign it into law, let it become law without his signature or veto it altogether.
Refund program
A record number of Wyoming residents used the state’s property tax refund program last summer after the Legislature expanded it during the 2023 session.
Lawmakers took things a step further this year with House Bill 4 – Property tax refund program. The bill expands income eligibility for a refund from someone earning 125% of the county’s median gross household income to 165%. It also implements a tiered system for eligibility requirements. Higher earners would get refunds at a smaller proportion of their property tax bill, and vice versa.
The idea is to offer relief for residents who were previously ineligible, including those who missed it by just a fraction.
Another change to the program relates to oversight.
The House amended the bill to allow county treasurers to refer any refunds to the Department of Audit for review since “there’s a belief that there is some misuse of this program,” Rep. Ember Oakley (R-Riverton) said during a conference committee meeting.
Because the refund program is funded by the state, it will not have a fiscal impact on local services. Partly for this reason, Gordon advocated for the property tax refund program in his State of the State address.
Veterans exemption
The remaining four bills either create a new property tax exemption or expand one that’s already on the books.
Senate File 89 – Veterans ad valorem exemption-amount doubles an existing exemption for certain veterans. More specifically, it increases the exemption on the assessed value of a home from $3,000 to $6,000.
Sen. Cooper said he drafted the legislation after hearing from a constituent.
“What we’ve had for the last 17 years is that $3,000 exemption for veterans,” Cooper told the House Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Committee last month. “I think our veterans are worth a little more than that.”
Senior citizens exemption
Similarly, House Bill 3 – Property tax exemption for long-term homeowners also creates a carveout for military personnel.
Primarily, HB 3 creates an exemption for homeowners — or their spouses — who are at least 65 years old and have paid Wyoming property taxes for at least 25 years. If a homeowner qualifies, 50% of the assessed value of their home will be exempt. Military personnel who “declare Wyoming as their domicile” will also qualify.
The exemption would be on the books until July 2027 when it would sunset.
Homeowner exemptions
The other two exemption bills would provide relief to a much broader swath of residents. That includes House Bill 45 – Property tax exemption-residential structures and Senate File 54 – Homeowner tax exemption.
House Bill 45, brought by Rep. Crago, would exempt annual property tax increases over 4%.
Structuring what is essentially a tax cap as an exemption, Crago said, was a way to work within the confines of the Wyoming Constitution while still providing immediate relief to taxpayers.
Lastly, SF 54 would apply a 25% exemption to the first $2 million of a home’s fair market value. The bill includes a sunset provision in 2026, but the Legislature will have the option to extend it.
Senate files 54 and 89 are the two exemption bills that set aside state funds to reimburse local governments for lost revenue.
We’ve paid property taxes on the same home for 45 years, but are moving to a new home in Laramie County this month. Will we still qualify for this tax reduction?
Exemptions are not the answer. They simply treat different people differently under the law and violate everyone’s rights under the 14th amendment; “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor DENY to any person within its jurisdiction the EQUAL PROTECTION of the laws.”
A property tax exemption for veterans means that the citizens of the state who are not veterans have their property taken to be redistributed to veterans. Clearly, property taxes are not to be a means to treat one group at the expense of another.
The answer is embedded in becoming active in your County Government. The county commissioners levy taxes through mill levies, they spend the revenue, and they adjudicate the tax protests as the county boards of equalization. This is a clear violation of separation of powers. What do the county commissioners do with the money? Hoard the money!
Let’s look at the worst offender… Sublette County Wyoming. You will find their Audited financial statements at the below link:
sublettecountywy.gov/495/Budgets-Financial-Statements
Well actually, you won’t find the FISCAL YEAR 2023-2024, or FISCAL YEAR 2022-2023… Why can you not see the current financial statements? Ask Carrie Long “Why can’t the audited financials be updated on the web site for Sublette county?” Tell Sam White, Dave Stephens, and Tom Noble that is is immoral to withhold county financials from the voters in Sublette county. They are up for reelection this year… giving Sam, Dave and Tom heck might straighten up Doug Vickrey and Mack Bradley cause they will be up in the following election cycle.
In the meantime, you can get the FISCAL YEAR 2021-2022 audited financials here;
sublettecountywy.gov/DocumentCenter/View/3871/Sublette-County-6-30-2021-Financials
Download the PDF and open it to page 8 of the document or more precisely page 13 of the 67 page PDF. This is the Statement of Revenues, Expenses, and Changes in Fund Balances for the year ending June 30, 2022.
Revenue…………$35,126,371
Expenses……….$43,128,4479
Fund Balance…$191,178,470
Seriously, Sublette County has BANKED $191,178,470. They have 5.44 times annual revenue in the total fund balance. These county commissioners have seriously overtaxed Sublette county. Of course, we have no idea where they sit today because they have hidden statutorily required public data from the voters.
Let’s now hit a big county… Laramie County, with a whole lot more citizens to serve. County Clerk Debra Lee does a much better job at transparency. All of the financial statements are online and available to citizens. But yes, Laramie also has had huge windfalls from increased property taxes. Download the latest financial statement here:
http://laramiecountyclerk.com/_pdfs/2024/2023 ACFR Final.pdf
On page 8 of the document (page 15 of the PDF) you will find 2023 revenues of $116,852,794 and that includes property taxes of $32,033,230. They had expenses of a mere $84,700,976. Laramie county profited and BANKED $32,151,976!!!
Yes indeed, Laramie county commissioners banked EVERY single dime of property tax and about $120,000 more to boot.
What should happen when property tax windfalls occur in a local government? The right answer is NOT to ask the legislature to violate the 14th amendment. The correct answer is for the taxing authority to return the money to the taxpayer by lowering the mill levy or simply refunding the money.
The County Commissioners of Laramie County need to find themselves out of office as well.
If the legislature were to act, I would hope they would put a hard cap on savings of government entities relative to revenue/expenses. Or even better, require audits on a regular basis that look deeply into expenditures. That should include contracts, and large samples of invoices to look for fraud waste and abuse. The general audited financial report does not take the time to see if a contract has been competitively bid. They often are simply aggregators of financial expenditures without delving into whether the money was expended properly and for the purposes of taxpayers in the county.
There are school districts that also accumulate huge sums of money and perform terribly on tests for reading. Same as Laramie County and Sublette county where services rendered are often below standards whilst money flows freely into the coffers. The problem is that a school district that hoards money while the students DO NOT get educated is denying those children a future.
Special Districts across the state of Wyoming also hoard money! Here is the report that shows that:
drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1Ti3V5hqOqGIWsJcw8NSzTM-IYYInjUV_
Overall, the special districts of Wyoming hold OVER a BILLION dollars of cash and investments, or between a 10 to 11 month reserve on average. Meanwhile, many taxpayers funding these government entities live paycheck to paycheck. Businesses paying the taxes supporting these entities may face hard financial times. Why form a business physically in Wyoming, when Government over charges? This tax policy of hoarding tax dollars is part of an environment that prevents business from coming to Wyoming.
Why does the Bear River Joint Powers Board of Uinta County hold nearly three times their revenue in cash and investments? Or over 4 times expenditures? Heck if I know, they don’t even have a website.
Mark Gordon should Veto every single one of these bills.
The legislature should do its duty under Article 4, Section 14 and implement an audit system for Wyoming. “The legislature shall provide by law for examination of the accounts of state treasurer, supreme court clerks, district court clerks, and all county treasurers, and treasurers of such other public institutions as the legislature may prescribe.” The Management Audit committee has shirked this duty for its entire existence. Tara Nethercott, my senator, suggested disbanding the committee this past summer. The answer to failing to do your duty is not to permanently shirk it… but fulfill that duty that was enacted by constitutional amendment in 1990.
Counties should return tax windfalls to citizens…
And Maggie Mullen should go holds barred on government entities that hoard Wyoming Taxpayer money!
It is a shame that they did not use graduated exemptions or refunds instead of hard limits. If you make 166% of the median county income you will have a big hit and if you make 164% you won’t. It would be better, for all taxes, refunds, and exemptions, if it were graduated, say between 100% and 200% of the median county income.
While I do not advocate a tax increase for ranchers that live on their property, I do believe that large real estate parcels are under-taxed and many out of state land owners do a small income producing venture (currently at $500 annually, $1000 on leased land if I remember the numbers correctly) to get ridiculously low property taxes. I currently pay about 75 cents per acre annually because I produce more than $500 of income on the property annually. My neighbor who only has 40 acres can’t produce the $500 so doesn’t get the exemption.
My property taxes on my house have risen about 15% over 2 years and zero on my land.
Ag exemption should be available for my neighbor as well as large land owners and should not be at 75 cents per acre, and ranchers who live on their land they ranch should receive a more significant or an additional deduction.
Nobody wants their property taxes, or any other tax raised, we are taxed to death, and even after death, they still want more….
Just my opinion……
Why not just FREEZE the property tax?Or roll it back to pre inflation value then freeze taxes? Simple straight forward. Favors no one. Countries and state will just have to get along with less. Look how much all these “special” groups and funding them costs all taxpayers. Start cutting. Or maybe tax all this lobbying money. 10-30% tax on what the group spent. Regardless what it was spent lobbying for. Tax it.