Dear editor:
Happy New Year from your friendly Casper City Council.
Without even having a formal public hearing, just a discussion in a work session and a vote in a general session, they have given the residents of our city an unexpected gift that we will not forget; utility rate increases for sewer of 34% in 2026 and 18% in 2027 and for water 8% in both 2026 and 2027.
During the extensive work session on December 9th, the reasons given for these significant increases was the issue of “deferred maintenance.”
Aging equipment has been a problem for a long time while council continually approves funding with our tax dollars for all kinds of fun projects they refer to as amenities.
Those projects have been operating for many years with losses that are subsidized with our money.
The council has failed to focus on core local government responsibilities like infrastructure.
So, all of a sudden, they now must face the problems they have been ignoring for years and we get to pay for it.
At the same time, our local politicians complain about our state legislators who have provided modest residential property tax relief so we can stay in our homes while facing rising costs for insurance, utilities and food caused by a massive federal government debt of nearly $40 trillion.
While the city council keeps taking more of our money, our state legislators are letting us keep some of it so we can buy products and services we need right here in our community which strengthens our economy.
Casper citizens should keep all of this in mind when election time comes along in August and November.
Sincerely,
Ross Schriftman, Casper
