Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak says Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins is using annexation to “land grab” areas of the county to fill the city’s coffers, but it leaves the county stretched to provide public safety services.
“The mayor is land-grabbing for property revenue but not expanding public safety resources,” Kozak commented on social media last week. “My agency and fire districts have to pick up the slack. The city should plan for smart growth and expand their services at the same rate.”
Collins denies the sheriff’s claims.
“I think people think we’re doing this for the money we get [from property taxes],” the mayor told Cowboy State Daily. “I understand the narrative, but it just isn’t true.”
Collins acknowledged that annexation and growth have affected public services.
“Part of the reason we’re looking to annex, when you look at the public service factor, is that when a call comes we know who should be responding,” he said.
The Cheyenne City Council’s efforts to annex pockets of county land that are at least 75% surrounded by the city over the past four years have left some big question marks over which public service entities respond to requests for help or service.
While some are critical of the consequences brought on by annexation, others see Cheyenne’s push to annex as a necessary step to embrace the city’s growth, particularly to accommodate data centers.
The Funding Issue
The City Council has faced stiff pushback on its annexation efforts, with many accusing the council and the mayor of land-grabbing and chasing property tax revenue.
According to the mayor, the county collects property tax from all properties within the county, including those within Cheyenne city limits.
“Everybody’s a county resident — everyone,” he said.
Conversely, “if it’s not in the city, we don’t get property tax,” the mayor said.
For every $400,000 home within Cheyenne city limits, the city receives $304 in property taxes, the mayor said. Laramie County gets $380.
“This is not a money grab,” he said. “We’re trying to clean up the regulatory public safety and services.”
Yet the Laramie County Fire Authority has had to pivot after it lost 25% of its funding last year with the passage of Senate File 69, which gives homeowners a permanent 25% tax exemption on the first $1 million of a primary residence’s fair market value.
While that legislation is separate from the City Council’s decision to annex, Fire Authority Chief Jason Caughey said his agency’s call volume continues to increase.
In 2011, the agency responded to 650 calls. In 2025, it was just under 2,000 calls.
The bulk of the agency’s staff is volunteer, Caughey said.
But even with 80% of the firefighters being volunteers, “We have to really be smart on prioritizing replacement of equipment,” he said, “because the revenue is not there.
“Our revenue is declining and our call volume is going up."
Planning For Growth
Kozak told Cowboy State Daily that he believes the city should contract with the county to provide for those services, or be smart with planning for growth.
“It’s not properly planned in my opinion,” Kozak said of the city’s annexation. “In other words, don’t annex until you’re prepared to provide the emergency services for that area."
Caughey acknowledged that annexation is difficult.
“The cities need to grow to survive and to generate that tax base,” he said.
But existing public services outside of the annexed portions often take the hit.
The city uses revenue streams differently than the county, Caughey said.
When the Walmart distribution center and a Microsoft data center were annexed into the city, the Laramie County Fire Authority took a big hit to its budget.
That’s because commercial occupancies provided big dollars in terms of property taxes.
“Because it’s commercial, it was our biggest area,” Caughey said.
“They’re really feeling it,” Kozak said, referring to county agencies, “because they have to continue to provide these public services but they’re losing their property tax base.”
Waiting For The Big Red Truck
Kozak said it is the county fire departments that often respond to calls within the newly annexed portions of the city.
That’s because “it seems like they’re annexing areas that are difficult for the city fire department and police department to respond to,” he said.
Kozak said his deputies patrol those areas “because we understand they’re never going to see police officers down there.
“We believe we have a duty to make those people feel comfortable,” he said, adding that many of them — including Meta — have reached out to county public services to build better relationships.
“We’ve built up a good relationship with Meta because they understand we’re the ones who are most likely to respond to a call,” Kozak said.
In some ways, Collins said, it doesn’t matter to a person in distress who responds to a call for help.
“What I’ve always shared is that when somebody calls 911, you don’t care who shows up, as long as it’s a big red truck,” he said. "You just want somebody to be there. If I’m hurting, I’m going to be grateful for anyone who shows up.”
And, he said, whether the service comes from the city or the county, “whoever shows up does their very best to help.”
Caughey agreed, saying that, “My first concern is always that the citizens get the best service possible.”
And in a medical emergency, time is everything, he said.
Last year, Laramie County Fire Authority celebrated the opening of a new fire station.
The station is on county land, but it is partially surrounded by land that was recently annexed into the city.
Caughey and his staff will respond to any call that comes in, regardless of whether it is in the county or the city. He said he has had conversations with the city council about that grey area and about whether the city would consider revenue sharing.
The conversations continue to happen at City Council meetings, he said, but haven’t resulted in any actual sharing of revenue between city and county services.
“Mayor Collins and I speak on a regular basis,” Caughey said. “He understands there is an impact on those (county) districts also. We want what’s best for the citizens.”
The annexations are leading to conversations officials have never had to have, he said.
“There is no historical data,” he said. “These are all new conversations we’re having to address. We lose the revenue, but we have closer resources.”
Meanwhile, In The City Limits
Incidents reported within the city limits are down for the third year in a row, said Cheyenne Police Chief Mark Francisco, adding that the annexations have not had an impact on police operations.
Once an area is annexed, Francisco said it is integrated seamlessly into the combined city-county dispatching process.
“The police aren’t necessarily dispatched based on who is closer,” Francisco said. “We handle the issue at hand and figure out the process later.”
The CPD has grown by eight officers in the past five years.
“We’ve been adding police officers in every budget,” Collins said.
He added that the city’s challenge in staffing police is not about the money, it’s about finding people to do the job.
“Since George Floyd, there’s just been a challenge in getting young people to want to be police officers,” Collins said. “It’s hard to put more officers in the budget when you can’t hire them.”
Kozak said the only positions the sheriff’s office has added recently are a couple of school resource deputies.
Brotherhood
As voters consider how to best use revenue from the county’s longstanding sixth penny sales tax this year, Collins said he is asking for money to fund a new fire station.
The city built a new fire station east of town with the last round of sixth penny sales tax revenue because the city has grown.
Laramie County voters decide how the revenue from the tax gets allocated every five years.
“We have great relationships with the county fire agencies and a really good relationship with the (Laramie County) deputies,” Collins said.
“We could not survive without our partners. And quite frankly, I think they could not survive without us,” Collins said. “When it comes to the men and women who serve, it’s a brotherhood. We have a great partnership and I really value that.”
Kate Meadows can be reached at kate@cowboystatedaily.com.
