Sublette County has more than $150 million tucked away in reserves, but even that substantial savings account isn't keeping the county from facing some difficult financial decisions.
County Treasurer Emily Paravicini told Cowboy State Daily that she transferred $10 million from reserves in 2025 “just to pay the regular bills.”
She said she might have to do the same this year.
At the end of August, the county's general reserve fund stood at $156 million, down about $30 million from six years earlier, Paravicini said. That doesn't include money set aside in the county's separate road reserve fund.
And with oil and gas revenues on a steady decline in recent years, operating costs rising and property tax cuts further squeezing the county's income, officials are confronting an uncomfortable question: Is Sublette County living beyond its means?
Pinedale resident Dave Bell said he thinks the county is heading toward trouble if something doesn't change.
"I think it's a really big deal," Bell told Cowboy State Daily. "Oil and gas revenues are down. There's no sign they're going to go up. We built those reserves during the good years."
Now, he worries, the county is spending money it might desperately need down the road.
"It's easy to continue to spend and make everybody happy," Bell said. "But at some point the cows come home."
When The Money Was Rolling In
For decades, Sublette County benefited from Wyoming's boom-and-bust energy economy, particularly the natural gas industry.
During the boom years, mineral production generated millions in tax revenue, allowing the county to build a substantial financial cushion.
According to County Commissioner Lynn Bernard, Sublette County went from having practically no reserves in the early 2000s to accumulating hundreds of millions of dollars in reserves.
"It was a tremendous godsend to us," Bernard said of the mineral revenue.
But the financial picture has changed.
"We are looking at the opposite now," Bernard said, referring to the decline in mineral-related revenue.
Paravicini remembers when the county received monthly mineral production tax payments totaling multiple millions of dollars.
The latest payment was just over $2 million.
"Those amounts have gone down a lot," she said.
Changes to Wyoming's mineral production tax collection system have also affected how counties manage their cash flow.
In 2023, a law signed by Gov. Mark Gordon changed the collection of mineral production ad valorem taxes from twice-yearly to monthly payments, aligning the system more closely with how severance taxes are collected.
With the shift, Paravicini said Wyoming counties could borrow money from the state if necessary. With the county’s reserves, she said she didn’t believe a loan was necessary.
“I didn’t want to have the county be on the hook for loans if we didn’t need them,” Paravicini said.
The reserves have continued to earn interest through a government investment account, but the county hasn't been adding extra money to those investments.
"We haven't been putting extra in investments," Paravicini said.
Learning To Say No
About three years ago, Paravicini came to the commissioners with a hard ask: A moratorium on spending.
“Anything that is not budgeted for we have to say no,” Paravicini said.
But saying no is easier said than done, particularly when residents expect county government to maintain roads, facilities and other services.
Paravicini said commissioners haven't been as willing to reject additional spending requests as she would like.
Bernard acknowledged the difficulty, saying commissioners consider requests outside the budget on a case-by-case basis.
"How do we address the reserves is an excellent question," he said. "It becomes a crystal ball."
That's because county officials must develop their budgets based partly on estimates of future mineral production tax revenue, which can fluctuate dramatically.
The decline in mineral royalty payments coupled with rising costs for everything from gas to gravel makes staying within a budget increasingly challenging. Recent property tax cuts have further frustrated the issue.
"When you keep cutting away the revenue sources, we have to stop with services or stop spending investments," Paravicini said.
Yet cutting services isn't necessarily what she wants, either.
"We are in the business of providing services for our community," she said.
Do We Really Need To Pave That Road?
One area where Paravicini said she believes the county could exercise greater restraint is road construction and maintenance.
She questioned whether commissioners should continue accepting and improving roads that serve relatively few residents, particularly when doing so creates a long-term maintenance obligation for the county.
"The commissioners keep approving roads," she said.
Some of those roads serve only a handful of homes, she said.
"It would be really great if we didn't pave the entire county and then have to pay to maintain (all those roads)," Paravicini said.
Her concern isn't simply the upfront cost of improving a road.
Once a road is brought into the county's road system, the county becomes responsible for maintaining it, potentially adding years of expenses to an already strained budget.
Bernard said her concerns are valid, but he sees another side of the issue.
Taxpayers who live on less-traveled roads still pay taxes and expect to receive county services.
"If we do it for others, are we being fair to withhold from other taxpayers because we're trying to conserve costs?" he said. "My position on that has been a taxpayer is a taxpayer and what's fair is fair."
Bernard said that position has sometimes drawn pushback from fellow commissioners.
The disagreement illustrates a larger challenge facing Sublette County: Deciding which services and improvements are essential, which can wait and which the county may no longer be able to afford.
How Much Is Enough?
Despite the decline, $156 million remains a substantial reserve fund.
But county officials disagree about how much should be preserved and when it is appropriate to spend it.
Bernard said he believes the county should maintain enough reserves to cover two to three years of expenses, providing a cushion against emergencies and unexpected revenue shortfalls.
Getting to that point, however, could require significant cuts to county services.
"We are trying to lower expenses and costs as much as possible without adverse effect on county employees," he said. "We need to make sure our services are fully funded to take care of our community – that’s the number-one priority."
Bernard said he views reserves as a means of maintaining the facilities and infrastructure the county already owns.
Paravicini would also like to preserve as much money as possible for future infrastructure upgrades, vehicle and equipment replacement, fire resources and other major expenses.
Among the projects under consideration is a new county justice center.
Bernard said the project is important, but he doesn't consider it an immediate priority.
The county has made substantial one-time commitments from its reserves in the past.
In 2020, Sublette County contributed $20 million from reserves toward construction of its new hospital.
Such expenditures underscore why Paravicini said she believes the county needs to be careful about using its savings for routine operating costs.
Money spent keeping the government running today won't be available for major projects or emergencies tomorrow.
A Rainy Day – Or Not Yet?
Robin Schamber, a candidate for county commissioner in November's election, said county leaders need to think beyond the next budget cycle.
"While we think we're having a hard time now, we might really have a hard time in five or 10 years," she told Cowboy State Daily. "Times are changing and I think we need to be mindful — is this really a rainy day?"
Bell acknowledged that commissioners face a difficult balancing act, particularly when so much of the county's revenue depends on the unpredictable energy industry.
But he said he believes the reserves accumulated during the boom years should be protected rather than treated as a continuing source of operating revenue.
Bernard said that's ultimately what commissioners are trying to accomplish: Maintain essential services while bringing spending more closely in line with the revenue the county actually receives.
"What we're hoping to do is hold as close to the reserve balance we have and operate on the dollar amounts that come in on a yearly basis on the tax royalties and run as close to possible a balanced budget where we're not dipping into the reserves," he said.
