Bills are starting to go to the Governor’s desk for signature as the Legislature enters its final week. However, an agreement on property taxes remains in question as both the House and Senate have narrowed down proposals under consideration. Several meetings have been held to seek a combined solution from both the House and Senate. One bill includes household income used as the determining factor in amount of property taxes assessed, while another puts on a five-percent cap. A solution for local government financial support, called backfill, is still part of the discussion.

For clarification, the Revenue Department reports, the State of Wyoming receives no money from property tax. The funds are a direct distribution to local governments and schools. For local governments, the amount of residential value varies depending on the property located within the boundaries of the taxing authority.  The associate document on page 14A provides the percentage of residential assessed value to overall value for each county, city and town in 2023.

As part of the property tax program, the department also reported county treasurers send the 12 School Foundation Mills to the state treasurer who holds all funds in a separate account pursuant to 21-13-103.  These funds are then redistributed to the local school districts. All other property tax dollars are collected by the county treasurer and distributed to taxing entities within their county.

Budget negotiations also continue this week with Senate Appreciations Chair Dave Kinskey reporting there are some priority differences between the House and Senate on a few issues, but overall, there is an agreement on the overwhelming majority the budget. He is confident the bodies will pass a budget that both chambers will be happy with, and funds will be provided for Wyoming’s needs. Early in the process, there was a $1 billion dollar difference between the House and the Senate in the budget negotiations.

Some of the early bills approved in the Legislation have gone to the Governor’s desk for signature. One includes some of efforts passed this session to address the shortage of firefighters in Wyoming. Another scheduled for signing includes improvements to timely insurance payments for medical procedures.