• Roughly $1.5 million less than previous year

Lincoln County Commissioners approved a more than $27 million budget during the county commission meeting on Tuesday, July 21 in Kemmerer. The total proposed budget is $27,023,981.22, down from the previous year’s budget of $28,022,361.

“Funding continues to be provided for community service organizations such as airports, senior citizen centers, self-reliance services, veteran’s service, low income/single mothers, youth crisis services, child development, behavioral health services, historical resources and domestic violence services,” states a budget message posted to the county website.

DETAILED LINCOLN COUNTY BUDGET FOR 2026-27 – 

The budget is put together using forecasted expenditures and forecasted revenues. Estimated revenues are a little under $26.7 million, coming from the 12 mills property tax generating $11,312,424, plus non-property tax revenue of $15,383,386.00. The county did see an increase in property tax revenue despite property tax cuts enacted by the state legislature in recent years. However, there has also been a loss of over $4 million since 2020 in non-property tax revenue due to a decline in coal production at Kemmerer Operations Coal Mine. The decline is related to the transfer from coal to natural gas at Rocky Mountain Power’s Naughton Power Plant in Kemmerer. Total estimated expenditures in the budget are slightly below $2.5 million.

“The budget itself is very tight,” stated Chairman Kent Connelly with the Lincoln County Commission. “We had to dip back into reserves again and put more money back into the budget so we can make it flush.”

Connelly did express optimism about the future of the county. “Three, four years from now when we get these other big industries back in southern Lincoln County, and even some stuff that’s going on in the north, we’ll recover from it. But we’ve got to get through this in-between.”