 - The Fremont County Commission voted this week to allocate $400,000 of its remaining $1.6 million in half percent sales tax revenues to help install a kitchen at the new RiverPeak Health hospital being developed north of Riverton.){kind=link}
(Lander, WY) – The Fremont County Commission voted this week to allocate $400,000 of its remaining $1.6 million in half-percent sales tax revenues to help install a kitchen at the new RiverPeak Health hospital being developed north of Riverton.
The allocation meets the requirements of the optional half-percent sales tax measure, which indicated that the money must be spent on projects that bring outside dollars into the community or that retain or increase jobs in Fremont County, Commissioner Ron Fabrizius said, pointing out that the new hospital is expected to bring 200-300 new jobs to the community.
“That’s what the money was for – is for economic development (and) jobs,” he said. “So, I thought it was a good (option).”
In fact, Fabrizius said he would be willing to allocate $500,000 to the kitchen kproject.
Commissioner Mike Jones said he preferred the $400,000 amount for now, however, calling it a “cautious number” that would be more appropriate given the uncertainty about the future of ambulance funding in Fremont County.
He was referring to this year’s primary election, which includes an optional three-quarter percent sales tax that would support commercial air service, public ground transportation, and the local ambulance system.
If the measure doesn’t pass, Jones said the Commission may need to use some of the half-percent sales tax funding to cover Fremont County’s ambulance subsidy.
“There’s no reason we can’t revisit this in September when we know more about what our needs are going to be,” he said.
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