After the governor sued the Wyoming Board of Equalization last month for its refusal to implement the state’s property tax increase caps, the board sued back Monday.
The board is asking Laramie County District Court Judge Nathaniel Hibben to declare that a state law capping residential property tax increases at 4% annually is unconstitutional, and to block its enforcement.
This cap violates the Wyoming Constitution’s requirement that property taxes be assessed at their full value and uniformly within property classes, the board alleges in its
Monday filing, through Davis and Cannon attorneys Amanda Esch and Cat Young.
Gov. Mark Gordon, on behalf of the state, scored a minor win in this fight June 19, when Hibben ordered the Board of Equalization to proceed with its summertime property tax certification processes in a way that obeys the cap laws.
These laws passed in 2024. Two members of the state Board of Equalization, Chair E. Jayne Mockler and Vice-Chair Martin Hardsocg, were gearing up to challenge the laws earlier this year, but the governor scuttled the effort, says a report the board issued last month.
In that same report, Mockler and Hardsocg indicated they could not certify counties’ property tax assessments with the cap in place due to their constitutional concerns.
Gordon’s office challenged the board’s refusal via the Wyoming Attorney General’s office, in a June 16 filing in Hibben’s court.
Though Hibben indicated the state looks favored to win this constitutional battle, he’s set another hearing for July 6 to contemplate the issue – and whether he’ll keep ordering the board to honor the cap – in more detail.
If the board loses at that hearing as well, it’ll be ordered to honor the cap as long as this case is ongoing, or unless the Wyoming Supreme Court contradicts Hibben on appeal.
If the board wins at that hearing, then Hibben will let it disregard the cap, and the county assessors may have to rework their residential property tax assessments without it.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
