One More For The Road

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"We want to hang out with this family...."}]

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Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>One More For The Road: Sunday, November 24, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

We want to hang out with this family....

One More For The Road: Sunday, November 24, 2024

 We want to hang out with this family....

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Politics

counties on Thursday that a 4% cap on yearly increases in residential property taxes is unconstitutional, and the counties shouldn’t let taxpayers have that exemption.

The State Equalization Board will refuse to certify this year’s property tax assessment figures if counties keep that cap on them, the report says.

The board’s two-person majority — Chair Jayne Mockler and Vice-Chair Marty Hardscog — wrote in the Thursday report that the 4% increase cap for residential property taxes has arbitrary impacts across the state. 

It also disproportionately insulates high-end homes, and disfavors homeowners in more sluggish market areas, the report asserts.

But the report’s main point, and conclusion from the past two years’ tax data, is that the 4% cap violates the Wyoming Constitution’s call for equal and uniform property taxes within each class of property.

The board hasn’t yet issued an order requiring Wyoming’s county assessors to rework their pending tax bills without the cap.

But it expects to do so in the coming weeks after working with counties, Mockler told Cowboy State Daily in a Thursday phone interview.

“We issued this report today that says if that cap doesn’t come off, Marty and I can’t vote to certify residential property taxes. Because they’re not uniform,” said Mockler. “It’ll be followed with an order ... (and) our goal is ultimately to remove the cap.”  

Mockler noted that the board isn’t targeting the other, narrower exemptions with this report — like the 25% property tax cut passed in 2025 or the long-term homeowner exemption.

More than half of the state’s residential property tax values fall under the 4% increase cap, the report says.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"But We Don’t Get A Tax Free Year"}]

This kind of push from the state board is unprecedented, Converse County Assessor Dixie Huxtable told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday.

But Wyomingites shouldn’t expect a tax-free year over the maneuver, she said.

“Everyone’s in agreement there will be residential property taxes for 2026,” she said. “This … is just a step in the process of getting different values the board feels is appropriate.”

The pending mandate leaves Wyoming counties somewhere between following the 4% cap requirement in state law and following another state law that tells assessors to obey the state board, she said.  

“You’re asking us to go against the law? Under the law we have to apply the 4% cap and you’re saying we can’t,” she reflected from the report.

[{"type":"text","text":"“It’s so bizarre it’s funny,” Huxtable added. "}]

She said she was digesting the report Thursday afternoon, and had just been to a phone meeting with the board officials, assessors, and county attorneys.

Two days earlier on Tuesday, Huxtable had just urged the Legislature’s Joint Revenue Committee to approach more changes to the state’s property tax law with caution, because assessors are always trying to keep up with the many changes lawmakers have brought in recent years.

Assessors are at the mercy of state law and are working hard to follow it, she’d said.  

Reflecting on the board’s Thursday report, Huxtable told Cowboy State Daily that assessors are now trying to gain clarification on what to do in the coming weeks.

“We’re on standby,” she said, adding that from her meeting with the board, her impression is, “They’d be tickled pink to go to court” on this issue.

Wyoming Attorney General Keith Kautz said Thursday that he doesn’t know of any litigation on this currently, “but if there is a challenge, we will support what the Legislature did.”

Rep. Barry Crago, R-Buffalo, who has since become a state senator, was the sponsor on the main bill the board’s Thursday report derides as unconstitutional.

Crago did not return a Thursday afternoon voicemail request for comment by publication.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Different Homes, Different Taxes"}]

The board’s report points to inconsistencies across the Wyoming property tax structure.

People who upgrade their homes by changing the footprint of those homes lose the cap exemption to a reset that year, while people who upgrade only the interior do not, says the report.

It says some homes have had their tax bills so thoroughly capped, they’re paying less than half of the state-mandated property tax rate.

“The caps, by design, generate highly disparate tax consequences for 

It accuses the law of discriminating arbitrarily between different homeowners across Wyoming.

“The demarcation between taxpayers receiving a tax windfall, versus those who do not, serves no rational basis,” the document adds.

Rep. Liz Storer, D-Jackson, told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday that she had voted for the 4% tax cap during the tax hikes of 2024. But she views the law as more of a short-term fix. 

"It was a tourniquet; it was a short-term fix," she said. "Butif you leave the tourniquet on, you damage the body." 

Storer's home region of Teton County accounts for huge property tax revenues in Wyoming. She has tried over the years to get lawmakers to stop applying property tax breaks to people's secondary homes. 

Of the $860.2 million in exemptions the 4% cap is expected to cause this year, Teton County accounts for $507.9 million, says a Department of Revenue memo Storer sent to Cowboy State Daily. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Lawsuit That Wasn’t"}]

The board warned lawmakers before the 4% cap bill’s passage that board members believed it’s unconstitutional.

 “the die was cast,” says the report.

The board examined the residential assessment values and looked for inverted valuations, that is where higher-valued properties were assessed at lower taxable values than other, similarly situated properties.

The board during the 2025 tax calculation process had just two members, Mockler and Hardscog. They voted that year to certify the tax values, but said that those values were probably invalid. Still, they wanted to gather one more year of data to be sure, the report says.

They also planned to release a Nov. 13, 2025, order requiring assessors to stop giving the exemption.

Gov. Mark Gordon’s office asked the board not to issue that order, the report says.

In November and early December, the governor’s office and Wyoming Attorney General’s Office met with Hardscog and Mockler to talk about filing an action asking a court to judge the issue.

The governor’s office and AG’s office agreed the state board should file that court action, the report says.

The litigation was slated to be filed Jan. 20. Gordon’s office asked for multiple delays, at first to communicate the lawsuit with legislative leaders. 

When Gordon’s office asked for another delay two days later, Hardscog and Mockler said they wouldn’t certify the property tax values after the June tax calculation process, “without a working resolution of their constitutional concerns,” says the report.

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<title>Wyoming Tax Board Says 4% Cap On Property Tax Is Unconstitutional, Won't Accept It | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Wyoming’s state-level property tax board told counties on Thursday that a 4% cap on yearly increases in residential property taxes is unconstitutional and it will refuse to certify this year's property tax assessment figures if the cap remains.

Wyoming Tax Board Says 4% Cap On Property Tax Is Unconstitutional, Won't Accept It

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Outdoors

Public Lands

A 41-year-old Denver man was found dead near a capsized kayak on Yellowstone Lake, a body of water that veteran guides say can turn from picture-perfect to perilous in a matter of minutes, Yellowstone National Park officials reported Thursday.

Occupants of another vessel on the lake discovered the body of Brandon Rhea on Monday floating near Rock Point on the lake's northwest shore near Bridge Bay, according to Yellowstone National Park officials.

National Park Service rangers recovered Rhea's body along with a capsized kayak and personal belongings. The incident remains under investigation, and park officials have released few additional details.

For those who spend their summers on Yellowstone Lake, the discovery is a reminder that one of Wyoming's most iconic destinations can also be one of its most unforgiving.

Park officials have released few details about the incident and did not respond to additional questions before publication.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Little Margin For Error"}]

For retired Yellowstone ranger Tara Ross, the reputation of Yellowstone Lake being potentially dangerous is justified.

"What makes it so dangerous is the extreme cold and wild winds," Ross said.

Ross spent several years assigned to Yellowstone Lake boat patrol while stationed in the Grant Village area. She said the lake conditions can overwhelm paddlers long before rescuers have an opportunity to reach them.

"The water is extremely cold," Ross said. “You may only have 10 minutes to survive it."

That reality creates one of the greatest challenges for emergency responders.

"By the time somebody from offshore notices — if the person can't self-rescue … that person is probably not going to make it," she added.

The lake often remains ice-covered well into spring, a reminder that Yellowstone's waters stay cold long after visitors begin arriving for the summer season, said Ross. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Lake Changes Fast"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Dylan Schneider has spent the past 15 summers on Yellowstone Lake."}]

He began working aboard boats on the lake and has spent the last six summers guiding kayakers through its bays and shorelines for Prismatic Tours. 

The biggest lesson he tries to teach visitors is not to trust what they see.

"It looks calm, but in 10 minutes it could be totally different," Schneider told Cowboy State Daily about Yellowstone Lake.

Surface water temperatures typically range between 40 and 50 degrees, even during the summer, he said.

"They say you have about 20 minutes before hypothermia sets in if you find yourself in the water," Schneider said, adding that the danger isn't limited to cold water.

Schneider said some of the most challenging conditions develop on warm, sunny days when visitors least expect trouble.

"Especially on those deceivingly nice days, the wind can pick up with very little warning," he said.

Large bays can become hazardous when winds build, and natural features around the lake can create wind tunnels that funnel gusts toward paddlers who may suddenly find themselves much farther from shore than they intended.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Respect The Lake"}]

Yellowstone Lake spans more than 130 square miles and sits at nearly 8,000 feet above sea level.

Ross said that prevailing southwest winds routinely sweep across the lake, while shifting weather patterns can create unexpected waves and rough conditions.

[{"type":"text","text":"Those conditions are familiar to people who work on the water."}]

Schneider said visitors often arrive expecting a leisurely paddle across one of the nation's most scenic lakes. Most leave with a newfound respect for how quickly the environment can change.

For those who know Yellowstone Lake best, its beauty and its danger are inseparable.

The circumstances surrounding Rhea's death remain under investigation, but Schneider's warning is one he gives paddlers every season.

"It looks calm," he said. "But in 10 minutes it could be totally different."

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<title>Floating Body Of Denver Man Recovered From Yellowstone Lake Near Capsized Kayak | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Denver man was found dead near a capsized kayak on Yellowstone Lake, park officials announced Thursday. Former ranger Tara Ross, who patrolled the lake said extreme cold and "wild winds" make it dangerous. "You may have 10 minutes to survive," she said.

Floating Body Of Denver Man Recovered From Yellowstone Lake Near Capsized Kayak

CHEYENNE — Seven of the 10 Republican candidates running to become Wyoming’s next U.S. House candidate courted a largely Christian audience Tuesday in Cheyenne, with statements on their faith, and their different approaches to education, family rights, and abortion policy. 

The Wyoming Family Alliance is an advocacy group that strives to advance biblical, generally faith-based policy objectives. The group’s president posed a series of questions at a packed event Tuesday evening in The Metropolitan Downtown, to these seven GOP candidates:

State Senate President Bo Biteman, former Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow, philanthropist and conservative thought leader Steve Friess, Casper-based combat veteran Kevin Christensen, Army Ranger David Giralt, Secretary of State Chuck Gray, and Moran rancher Frank Chapman. 

Casper businessman Reid Rasner, former Democratic lawmaker Keith Goodenough, and Richard Dodson – a second former Democrat in the GOP race – did not attend the event. 

In a field that big and a race that red, it’s difficult to stand out. But the seven candidates displayed some variations of approach.

Biteman, who emphasized that he’s a family man, a “self-made man” and a hard worker, surfaced as a stickler for small government.

“The role of government is… to protect your rights. Period,” he said. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Christensen leaned on his combat experience and his Wyoming roots."}]

Friess pointed to his work helping to prepare executive order proposals ahead of the first Trump administration. He acknowledged that he wasn’t born in Wyoming, but spoke of his move to the state 26 years ago as a conversion of sorts, that also coincided with his baptism into the Christian faith. 

Gray cast himself as a fighter and pointed to his decade in state government and pro-life maneuvers he undertook in 2017 and 2019. 

Balow leaned on her trial-by-fire, of keeping Wyoming schools open for nearly all of the COVID-19 pandemic and fighting for parental autonomy during the massive social shifts that followed. 

Chapman took a warm philosophical approach to some of the cultural issues while castigating bureaucratic bloat. 

And Giralt articulated concrete plans on multiple issue points. He also pointed to his parents’ legal migration from Communist regimes, as well as his experience in both the military and as an advisor to federal policymakers. 

[{"type":"text","text":"‘Media’ And ‘Insiders’"}]

In response to a question about the role of faith in governing, Gray aired his long-wrought grievances about the media, Gov. Mark Gordon, an undefined group of “insiders,” and the role of the Wyoming Attorney General.

He quoted a fictional character in an adaptation of the Count of Monte Cristo, saying, “God sees everything.” 

“That’s the way I live my life,” said Gray. “No matter whether it’s difficult, no matter the attacks from the media, and no matter the attacks from the insiders, the governor – the highest official in the state of Wyoming who the Attorney General serves at the pleasure of – I’ve been guided by truth and I’ve gotten policy done.”  

[{"type":"text","text":"Tanks Are Gonna Roll"}]

In response to that same question, Christensen spoke of leading 234 cavalry squadron soldiers into combat as they invaded Iraq.

That was just one time he shared his faith openly, said Christensen, who described leading all the soldiers in prayer, moments before “tanks are gonna roll.” 

[{"type":"text","text":"Friess turned to Christensen and said, “that was fantastic.” "}]

For his own answer to the faith question, Friess said, “our moral convictions are the center of who we are” and office-holders are accountable for their own actions.

Balow said God is her “everything,” but emphasized cordiality toward people across different faiths, especially while working collaboratively with them. 

Giralt said he and his wife are practicing Catholics, and God is the foundation that will see this nation through the next 250 years. 

Chapman said lawmakers should not only act with faith, but defend the faith exercise rights of others. 

Biteman, a history buff throughout the evening, harkened to how America’s Founding Fathers actually felt about faith in government, saying the Constitution was made for a moral and religious people.

[{"type":"text","text":"On Parental Rights"}]

All seven candidates said they’d work to defend the family as an institution, and parental rights. 

Giralt kicked off the answers by saying America should keep males out of girls sports, and that the federal government should not let its agencies “be an environment for social experiments or social change.” 

The nation should block taxpayer funds for transgender surgeries and treatments, and he’d oppose federal funding for those efforts, said Giralt. 

Chapman echoed the sentiment and said it’s time to cut administrative bloat in education and eliminate the federal Department of Education. 

The other six candidates, answering a later question, all said they wanted to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education as well. Biteman said the federal government could transfer that agency’s money toward paying down the federal debt instead. 

Biteman reiterated a staunch small-government, constitutional rights stance across multiple questions. 

Government’s role is “not to be involved in the family, good or bad, especially at the federal level.” 

He referenced Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, which confers specific powers onto 

Those are, to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, pay debts - uniformly across states - and to provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States. 

“Everything after that is clearly reserved to states and the people,” said Biteman. “Especially the families. Government should not be involved period.” 

Gray countered, saying “there’s a role for the federal government to support (school choice) education savings account programs.” 

[{"type":"text","text":"Gray echoed Giralt’s call to protect women’s and girls’ sports."}]

He took Giralt’s call to block federal funding of transgender surgeries a step further. 

“We have to ban the transgender surgeries,” said Gray. “Not just… the funding of the transgender surgeries.” 

Christensen mirrored Biteman’s small-government approach to the issue, and urged families to be accountable and strive for high values within themselves. 

Friess lent credence to Christensen and Biteman’s small-government approach, but said, “we’ve gotten to the point where it’s so intrusive, you’ve got to start passing law to nip and tuck around the edges and get (the overreach) under control.” 

Balow pointed to her defense of parental “empowerment” during her tenure as Wyoming’s superintendent, and said her work there prompted Gov. Glen Youngkin, of Virginia, to tap her as his top educator. 

“Do what you did in Wyoming, in Virginia,” said Balow, adding that she and Youngkin fought to scale back educational intrusion into parents’ roles. 

[{"type":"text","text":"On What The House Can Do About Abortion"}]

The seven candidates all cast themselves as ardently 

Friess said he became pro-life in seventh grade when Joe Biden came to speak to his assembled school. Biden attested to being a devout Catholic and said life begins at conception, but indicated he wouldn’t impose his religious beliefs on others, Friess recalled. 

“I think that was the moment I became pro-life,” said Friess. “I saw the utter inconsistency in saying one thing and enacting policies going the other way.” 

Friess said that he worked with a group of capable Washington D.C. attorneys ahead of the first Trump administration to prepare executive orders for the incoming president. 

, was an expansion of the “Mexico City policy” — a  global ban on federal global aid going to fund abortions, he said. 

[{"type":"text","text":"“That was my contribution to the battle there,” said Friess. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The Mama, The Planner"}]

Balow said she’s an adoptive mother, and expressed gratitude for the women who “chose life” for her children. She noted that she volunteers on the board of directors for the Wyoming Children’s Society, and said she also supports the group financially. 

“This is what the pro-life movement looks like in action, and this is what I’ll take to Congress,” said Balow. 

“How did we reach a place where our culture can celebrate choice— the choice to end a life --yet think it’s unbearable to place a child for adoption to be loved by a family?” she asked, adding that her pro-life convictions would hold in congress, and that tax dollars and policies should not back abortions. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Giralt discussed a concrete plan for pro-life moves in the House. "}]

Firstly, he said, he wants to back a bill outlawing the mailing of abortion drugs. Secondly, Giralt he wants to solidify into standing law a recurring budget amendment barring federal funding for abortions.

“It’s used as a negotiating bargaining chip,” said  Giralt. “That should no longer happen.”

[{"type":"text","text":"The Attorney, The Minimalist"}]

Chapman said that as an attorney, representing a person who had caused an accident in which a 3-week-old child was killed was “absolutely the worst experience of my life.”  

[{"type":"text","text":"He became tearful as he spoke of the case. "}]

He said that when kids are born, “we need adoption,” and “we need to support them.” 

[{"type":"text","text":"He agreed aloud with Giralt’s two policy plans. "}]

Biteman also said he’d vote for those two policy plans if elected to the House. 

Beyond that he said, the U.S. Supreme Court made abortion a state’s-rights issue with the 2022 overturn of Roe vs. Wade. 

It’s up to the Legislature, where his time is waning, to grapple the issue, and probably change the Wyoming 

The Wyoming Supreme Court on Jan. 6 ruled that a health care autonomy clause in the state Constitution confers a fundamental right to abortion access. 

Biteman pointed to his staunch pro-life record in the Legislature, where he championed numerous pro-life bills.  

[{"type":"text","text":"University Of Wyoming"}]

Gray also pointed to his time in the Legislature, and his 2017 sponsorship of House Bill 182. That bill, which became law, directed medical staffers performing abortions to inform patients “of the opportunity” to view an ultrasound of the child and hear his heartbeat. 

Biteman, who was in the House then, had voted in favor of that bill as well. 

Gray said in 2019 he heard a “rumor” that the University of Wyoming “was funding abortion in their student plans” and he asked the Legislative Service Office to ask UW if that was happening. UW “admitted to it,” and “we put a nice little rider” on UW’s budget threatening to claw back money if it continued that practice, said Gray. 

The student health care plans were then funded through premiums students paid, not public money from the Legislature. Buying insurance through the university was voluntary for all students, except some international students. 

As for Congress, Gray said, “we need to have a national pro-life policy.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Sure, But Science Is your Friend Too "}]

Christensen said he believes life begins at conception, and it is a matter of faith.

But science also backs that assertion, he said, and state leaders should be prepared to carry pro-life policies on a scientific as well as a faith basis to defend the cause from claims that it’s based on dogma alone. 

[{"type":"text","text":"And he urged societal revival. "}]

“As pro-life as I am, let’s be as pro-mom and baby as well,” he said. “We have to break the cycle of what’s causing us to be in the situation where abortion is being used as a form of birth control,” Christensen said, adding that families should strive for accountability, faith and values. 

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<title>Wyoming U.S. House Candidates Face Christian Lobby, Swap War Stories | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Seven of the 10 Republican candidates running to become Wyoming’s next U.S. House candidate courted a largely Christian audience Tuesday with statements on their faith, and their different approaches to education, family rights, and abortion policy. 

Wyoming U.S. House Candidates Face Christian Lobby, Swap War Stories

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Executive

In a move indicating that concerns over the dwindling Colorado River have reached a new level, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon and U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis joined other Western elected officials met for discussion and negotiations in Washington, D.C.

Gordon, Barrasso and Lummis met Tuesday with Utah Gov. Spencer Cox Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Mike Lee, R-Utah, Sen. John Curtis R-Utah.

On Wednesday, Barrasso invited Pinedale rancher Mike Vickrey to testify about the Colorado River negotiations before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

 said that in Wyoming and other Upper Colorado River Basin states, “our expectations of how much water we will have to irrigate with are based on Mother Nature,” according to a statement from Barrasso’s office.

Vickrey told the Senate committee that as he sees it, he and other Upper Basin farmers and ranchers have gone above and beyond to conserve water.

Meanwhile, downstream states benefit from greater “security” offered by large reservoirs at Lake Powell and Lake Mead, 

Parts of two of Wyoming’s reservoirs along the Green River, a major tributary of the Colorado River, are in Sweetwater County. Those include Fontenelle Reservoir and Flaming Gorge Reservoir.

That means the area has a huge stake in what happens along the Colorado River, Sweetwater County Commissioner Taylor Jones told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.

“I think our concerns are the water levels, and our lack of say,” in Colorado River policy, he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Barrasso Takes Lead"}]

Officials offered few details of what the D.C. meetings might mean going forward for Wyoming and the other Upper Basin states of Colorado, Utah and New Mexico.

A Pinedale rancher told U.S. Senators on Wednesday that he and other Upper Basin farmers are tired of Wyoming giving up Colorado River water. Negotiations moved up a notch this week with Wyoming leaders meeting in Washington, D.C., with other states.

One More For The Road: Sunday, November 24, 2024

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