Dear editor:
There seems to be a false notion that a 50% homestead ballot exemption on the 2026 ballot will so greatly reduce the revenues of the 23 counties that they may go out of business.
If the media and the Wyoming legislature spent 5 minutes looking at the Wyoming Department of Audit and Revenue reports, they would realize the 23 Counties, will see a 4.4% drop in their TOTAL revenue streams in the first year if the 2026 ballot is approved.
A 4.4% drop in total revenues - that does not sound like a drop so precipitous that the counties will cease to exist.
How many private sector households have to deal with 4.4% adjustments to their budget every year? All of them?
If households have to adjust their budget every year, then surely the 23 counties can do the same thing.
Wyoming’s 23 counties have seen their revenues INCREASE by 54% over the last 6 years. $755m in 2019 to $1,158m in 2024. How many private citizens have seen their household incomes increase 54% over the last 6 years? With 40% of Wyoming citizens living on fixed-incomes, this cannot continue.
How do we get to a 4.4% drop in County revenues?
1. Wyoming’s 23 counties accrued $1,158,000,000 in revenue in 2024 of that $1,158,000,000, $340,000,000 came from ALL property tax revenues (residential, mineral, non-mineral, industrial, commercial, agriculture)
2. The remaining $818m in county revenues came from sales taxes, gasoline taxes, federal grants, state grants and loans, charges for services, licenses/permits, etc.)
3. Of the $340m in ALL property tax revenue, 30% of that comes from RESIDENTIAL property taxes
30% of $340m = $102,000,000 of the $1,158,000,000 in County revenues came from RESIDENTIAL property taxes.
$102,000,000 means that RESIDENTIAL property taxes is only 9% of total County revenues - that means the other 91% of County revenues comes from all other property taxes, sales taxes, federal grants, state grants and loans, gasoline taxes, charges for services, licenses and permits, etc.
4. A 50% homestead exemption would result in RESIDENTIAL property taxes going to counties being $51,000,000 instead of $102,000,000. A $51,000,000 decrease in county budgets on a $1,158,000,000 budget is a 4.4% decrease in county level revenue ($51m / $1,158m)
5. As a matter of fact, the 23 counties in Wyoming COLLECTED $5,670,000,000 in revenue from 2019-2024. Those same 23 counties spent $4,685,000,000. Which means, those counties over-collected $985,000,000 in revenue. Yes…that’s right…Wyoming’s 23 counties put $985,000,000 of over-collected taxes and grants into their cash reserves. This does not include the hundreds of millions of dollars incorporated into the State, special district and school district cash reserves.
Were the 580,000 residents of Wyoming able to put $985,000,000 into their own cash reserves over the last 6 years?
6. Does a nearly $1 billion addition to county cash reserves over the past six years suggest to you that Wyoming’s 23 counties are in financial trouble?
At the end of the day, if we are going to have an honest discussion about this topic, let’s at least have it be a fact-based discussion.
Sincerely,
Chris Williams, Dayton
