Fremont County library flap, a symptom of broader property tax pains, angers patrons

Belt tightening was the mandate in Fremont County this spring in response to a multi-million-dollar drop in tax revenue. Commissioners, the bearer of bad news, asked county departments to contemplate 10% budget cuts with measures like leaving open positions vacant, raising fees or eliminating costs. 

So when news broke that the library system — which operates facilities in Lander, Riverton and Dubois — was facing a 23% cut of $300,000, library patrons were up in arms.  

“The community would really like to understand why the library specifically is being asked to cut its budget so significantly compared to other departments,” former library staffer Sarah Reilley told the commission during a public hearing. She was among several people who criticized the cuts as undue and harmful.

“What does $300,000 look like, as a cut?” Cody Beers, president of the Fremont County Library Foundation, asked the commission in the same hearing. “We’re talking services, we’re talking people, we’re talking lessening the ability of our young people and readers in our community to access our library.” 

Others urged the preservation of services like story times and adult educational programming they called crucial for healthy communities. 

Commissioners defended their process, saying they did not target the library for comparatively larger cuts as some kind of punishment. The library, they said, portrayed the budget cut as some kind of statement of disapproval, which panicked its ardent supporters. 

“We did not mandate it,” Commission Chair Larry Allen said. “We asked for options to explain what the impacts of cuts would be.”

Interpretations aside, the library ultimately received a $100,000 donation from the Fremont County Library Foundation and obtained county approval to re-allocate an additional $100,000 earmarked for collection development in order to backfill. The library also identified special revenue funds to fill in holes. That left it short roughly $53,000, according to a county budget spreadsheet. 

The cut will be reflected by a reduction of 64 staff hours per week, Fremont County Libraries Director Anita Marple said, meaning two vacant positions at its libraries in Dubois, Lander and Riverton will remain unfilled and another part-time library assistant will be laid off. The libraries may reduce operating hours as well, she said, but those changes have not been finalized. 

The county approved its final budget in late June with a total of $2.5 million in cuts. Department cuts ranged from 19% from the commissioners’ budget, 35% from the county clerk’s election budget, 2% from the county attorney’s office and 88% from courthouse security. Positions were left vacant, contracts reassessed and fees hiked. 

Though a library solution was reached, discussions were fraught with hand-wringing and accusations — and library supporters still maintain the cut was unjust. 

The flare-up is the latest in long-running library tensions in central Wyoming. But it’s also a symptom of the struggles local governments and special tax districts around the state face as they reckon with significant property tax cuts ushered in by a new state law. 

Senate File 69, “Homeowner property tax exemption,” applies a 25% exemption on the first $1 million of a single-family home’s fair market value. This translates into smaller pools of funds for a myriad of special local districts — from hospitals to ambulances, museums and school districts. And with more tax-cutting proposals on the horizon, budget crunchers like the ones in Fremont County are warning that this is just the beginning. 

Commissioner Allen pointed to a measure on the November ballot that could bring further cuts. If passed, he said, “we’re looking at over a third of our budget just disappearing,” he said. 

If that happens, he warned, “we will probably only just have one library. And we’re not just picking on the library. We are picking on everybody.”

Number crunching

Several factors made budget projecting, never an easy task, more difficult in Fremont County this year. The 25% property tax drop certainly spelled cuts, but new tax exemptions, ongoing property assessments and fluctuations in mineral revenues also created a moving target.

Not all special districts in Wyoming had to deal with the same complicated puzzle, but they all saw tax generation drop. That’s because special districts are funded by mill levies, which draw from property taxes. 

Senate File 69 was among a raft of homeowner relief bills brought to the Wyoming Legislature in the last two years. Lawmakers were prompted, they said, by vociferous constituent concern that property taxes are too high in the state. 

Dozens of special district representatives, including first responders, community colleges and fire departments, urged lawmakers to reconsider, given the drastic service cuts the measure would require due to millions of dollars in lost revenue. 

Those pleas were not enough to sway lawmakers, and special districts have been wrestling with budget cuts since. 

In Fremont County, a finance team started in January to prepare for a worst-case-scenario $5 million drop in taxes. With that number in mind, they asked county departments to contemplate a 10% cut. The commission also extended a wage and hiring freeze, meaning departments cannot hire for open positions or raise an employee’s pay without requesting an exemption.

“So the question to everybody was: Do the best you can in your budget, and then if you are able to raise your revenues, your user fees, we will do that,” County Clerk Julie Freese said in a presentation to the commission. 

Encompassing more than 9,000 square miles, Fremont is a huge county, with departments that range from roads to elections, solid waste, vital records, law enforcement and courts. Talking through and finalizing the departmental budget cuts ate up hours of meetings and public hearings. 

The commission used a priority system, said Commissioner Mike Jones, who is the library board liaison. The highest priority for funding included services the county is required by law to provide, such as roads, titles and a sheriff’s department. Second was the groups that support the statutory mandates. Third was non-statutory services like the fair, recreation board or museums that not everyone uses. While Wyoming counties are mandated to operate one library in their county seat, Fremont County has three — which is why they consider it in the last, he said. 

“We’ve been asking our non-statutories over the last six years … to grow their own self-generated revenue,” Jones said. “So the claim that [the libraries] were being picked on is not really true.” 

Commissioners asked all their departments how far they could stretch and reduce their budgets, Jones said. They asked for scenarios showing how services would be impacted, he said, but the library board didn’t satisfy that request. 

The library board didn’t see it that way.

Doors, staff

“At the very beginning, Commissioner Mike Jones wanted to know what a $300,000 reduction to the library board would look like,” Marple said. She interpreted that as the county’s intention, she said, not really up for negotiation. She also aimed to preserve library services as they are. 

Marple crafted eight options for the commission contemplating cuts ranging from 10% to 23%. 

“I wanted them to see the difference that even 1% makes to our budget and what we can do,” she said of her options. “I was also very specific in how we would accomplish this reduction with the primary goal of preserving library services for the community as much as we could.”

To do that, she found sources to patch many of the holes. One: The Fremont County Library Foundation changed its bylaws in order to give $100,000 to the county library system for operations. Two: Marple identified $100,000 of library funds earmarked for collections that she wanted to transfer to the general funds. The library board needed commission approval to transfer those funds.

Commissioners, however, appeared frustrated with Marple and the library board, citing a lack of specificity on how the options would translate to public impacts. In a June 9 budget work session, they agreed to ask for the full $300,000 cut — and deny the library the option of transferring that $100,000 in earmarked monies. 

Days later, the library board called an emergency meeting to discuss the situation. Without the $100,000 transfer, they agreed, the libraries would be open fewer days a week, programs would be reduced and services would suffer. 

Library board member John Angst was openly upset with what he called a disproportionate cut. “We were disrespected and the fact is we didn’t get a justification for the $300K in the first place,” he said. 

The following week, the library board came back before the commission officially asking for approval of the $100,000 transfer. Library supporters also showed up in force to defend the library and criticize the proposed cuts. 

“I don’t understand why the library is being cut 23% versus all other agencies or departments’ 10%,” Linda Barton said. 

Jones doubled down on his request for specifics.

“I see a little shuffling here and shuffling there, that to me is not really what I was after in terms of impact,” Jones said. “Here is the underlying question of the whole thing: If we pull $300,000, are you going to have to close one of the doors?”

Without the $100,000 transfer, multiple libraries will close one day a week, library board member Kristen McClelland said. Meeting rooms won’t be as available, programs like story times, Lego clubs and afterschool programs will be reduced and some computers will probably go dark, she continued. 

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That answer finally satisfied Jones, who said he had been seeking that level of specifics. Commissioner Clarence Thomas, meanwhile, admonished the library board for not advocating for a lower cut that it could reasonably maintain. 

“We had all these people come in and get after us about the 23%,” Thomas said. “Those people should be yelling at you, not us.”

Freese, the county clerk and budget officer, clarified that she “sent the message to them to cut $300,000 from its budget because that’s what you asked me to do.” 

The board was under the impression that $300,000 was a mandate, McClelland said. 

“Shame on us as a board for having this miscommunication or not understanding, but we thought that this is the option that we were given,” McClelland said.

In the end, the commission then voted 3-2 to approve the full $100,000 fund transfer.

Future actions 

Fremont County library patrons won’t experience the more drastic service cuts that were laid out. At least, not yet. 

But if Wyoming continues down the path of tax reductions, libraries — along with services that range from museums to irrigation and cemeteries — may not be so fortunate. A citizen-led property tax initiative will ask voters in November to cut 50% of residential property taxes. Lawmakers also are discussing abolishing property taxes entirely. 

Commissioner Allen said the county’s budget scenario will become dire if the ballot initiative passes, with huge impacts to things like transportation, emergency services and roads.  

“It’s going to impact everything in the county,” Library board member Perry Cook agreed. “It’ll be a disaster.” Cook suggested a concerted effort to inform county voters about what their property taxes actually fund and what’s at stake. 

Because while the library was able to find extra sources of funds this year, including the one-time gift from the Fremont County Library Foundation, Marple said it can’t simply count on that level of generosity going forward. 

“We now have a year to plan for what comes next,” she said, adding that the property tax cuts are detrimental in many ways. “It’s devastating municipal and county government budgets. And ultimately, it’s harming citizens.”