Fremont County Commission begins budget hearings with department heads; final assessed value still in flux

(Lander, WY) – For the first time in her career, Fremont County Assessor Tara Berg said she was unable to report a final assessed value to the Fremont County Commission before budget hearings began this month.

“I can’t sit in front of you today and say this is going to be our number, because we have so many things changing on a daily basis in our office with the long-term homeowners (applications) still coming in,” Berg told the Commission during a meeting this week. “They’re coming in daily, (and) we’re seeing people get $8,000 tax exemptions, so it’s significant.”

Local residents have until May 26 to apply for the 50 percent property tax exemption for long-term homeowners the Wyoming Legislature passed in 2024.

So far, Berg said her office has granted 1,800 of those exemptions for long-term homeowners in Fremont County, totaling $26 million in value – and “we have between 300 and 400 of them still to review.”

In addition, she said her office has also granted $72 million in exemptions based on this year’s 25 percent property tax exemption for single-family residential homes in Wyoming.

Both of those numbers are likely to change, however, Berg said, because “if somebody comes in today and applies for the long-term homeowners, we have to go in and take the 25 percent exemption off and put the 50 percent on.”

“So I’m really hesitant to jump out there and give big numbers, because I do believe (our valuation) is going to go down a little bit,” Berg said.

She added that her office also exempted $31 million worth of value this year based on the legislature’s 4 percent cap on property tax increases.

Revenues

As it stands now, Berg said Fremont County’s total assessed value, including the property tax exemptions that have been granted so far, amounts to almost $681 million, which equates to a total tax income of $8.18 million on 12 mills.

Last year, those 12 mills brought in $10.2 million in tax revenue, she said, so “what you’re looking at is about a $2 million decrease from last year’s tax amount.”

The 2024 total already represented a decrease from the year before, she noted, when the 12 mills produced $12.5 million in tax revenue. 

The county general fund typically receives revenue from nine of those 12 mills, Fremont County Treasurer Jim Anderson said, estimating that, based on the current numbers, that income would amount to about $4.5 million this year.

The county is also slated to receive about $1.3 million in state-assessed mineral taxes, Anderson projected.

Other local revenues come from things like motor vehicle registrations, which Anderson estimated will bring in about $880,000 next year – down from about $933,000 this year.

Fremont County also receives a portion of Wyoming’s 4 percent sales tax, equating to about $5.7 million, he said, and the county’s direct distribution from the state amounted to almost $1.7 million this year and is expected to rise to more than $1.9 million next year.

Severance taxes bring in about $380,000 for Fremont County, he continued, while the gasoline tax generates more than $750,000, and the special fuels tax brings in $1.2-1.3 million.

In addition, Anderson said the county’s road construction fund is expected to receive more than $4.2 million in sales tax revenues from Fremont County’s optional 1 percent sales tax for infrastructure next year, plus more than $1 million in gasoline taxes and $238,000 in severance taxes.

Federal funding

Fremont County will likely receive less money from the federal government this year, Anderson said, given that the Homeland Security grant that Fremont County Emergency Management typically receives annually, totaling up to $90,000, has been “frozen.”

In addition, Anderson said this year the U.S. Congress did not reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools Act, which previously provided funding to help with road maintenance and snow removal during the school year.

Fremont County had anticipated receiving $535,000 in SRS funds this year, Anderson said, but since the SRS Act was not reauthorized, he revised that projection down to about $95,000 for this year and $92,000 for next year, based on an “earlier Act of Congress dating from 1908 which dictates that revenues (from) the sale of forest products in National Forest lands are shared back to the counties.”

The county does still expect to receive Payment In Lieu of Taxes funding, which “is money paid by the federal government to basically compensate counties for federal lands that are within the boundaries of the county,” Anderson said.

The PILT money generally amounts to more than $3.1 million, he said, and “we anticipate the federal government will continue to authorize those payments,” but “that’s all contingent upon Congress reauthorizing PILT.”

Budget hearings

After reviewing the numbers, Anderson said Fremont County is anticipating almost $2 million less in revenue next year compared to this year. 

Commissioners said they would keep those calculations in mind while they conduct budget hearings with county department heads, who have been asked to outline options for cutting their budgets by 10 percent for the coming fiscal year.

The Commission met with eight of those department heads on Tuesday, beginning with Fremont County Emergency Management Coordinator Milan Vinich, who proposed cutting his own salary by $10,000 and reducing his department’s discretionary spending in order to achieve the 10 percent cut.

Commissioner Mike Jones thanked Vinich for his “integrity” in putting together the proposal, noting that “that’s what we asked for” – but Jones also said the Commission isn’t necessarily “going to decide to do that.”

Commissioner Larry Allen agreed, pointing out that the county is still working with a “moving target” when it comes to revenues.

“(The department heads will) show us what the options are – what it’s going to affect – and then … this board will have to make the tough decisions and unpopular decisions on what to do,” he said.

For the assessor’s office, Berg said she would have to cut either one GIS position or two other full-time positions from her department in order to achieve a 10 percent budget reduction of $112,355.

She was able to cut almost $40,000 in other items from her budget, however, and she said she could begin implementing fees again in order to generate about $10,000 more in revenue.

Fremont County Clerk Julie Freese said she hopes to generate more than $40,000 in additional revenue next year, and she was able to cut expenses by almost $78,500 for a net budget reduction of about $121,000 – just over the 10 percent threshold for her department.

For elections, she pointed out that 2025 is an “off year,” so it was “a little bit easier” to implement budget cuts. 

“We reduced this budget by $118,586, and we were required to do like $40,000,” she told the Commission this week.

The building maintenance department was able to offer the Commission a $51,500 budget cut – well below the 10 percent ask of almost $112,000 – but Jones pointed out that the building department is already understaffed, and “if we were to go all the way to ($112,000), we would take another person out of the staff that services these buildings.”

That move would not only “reduce the amount of cleaning we can do in the buildings,” Jones said – it would also “limit the ability of the department to respond to emergencies” like mid-winter boiler malfunctions, for example.

The public defender’s office wasn’t able to present a 10 percent budget cut either, because that department is 85 percent funded by the state, so “there’s not a lot of wiggle room (for) the county to cut,”  Assistant Public Defender Valerie Schoneberger explained.

Fremont County Coroner Erin Ivie said she was able to cut $7,750 from her budget, but “the rest of it is statutory.”

She does have two full-time deputies, but she said she couldn’t envision “covering the entire county” with fewer people than that.

The coroner’s office could stop conducting autopsies for other counties in order to cut costs by $44,000, she said, but “while that looks good on paper,” it would ultimately result in a loss of revenue that currently comes in from those contracting counties.

Her office could also eliminate Fremont County’s forensic pathologist position – which is currently funded by the autopsies being conducted for other counties – and resume traveling to Colorado to receive autopsy services, but Ivie said that move would require an extra $51,000 in funding to cover fuel, travel, overtime, and wear and tear on vehicles.

Instead, she suggested that the county could consider increasing the amount other counties are charged for autopsy services in Fremont County in the future.

The last two budget hearings of the day were held with Fremont County Library Systems Director Anita Marple, who offered seven options for cutting her budget by $200,000-$300,000, and Fremont County Clerk of District Court Amanda Sanchez, who said she could reduce her budget by more than 10 percent by eliminating one half-time position and revising her revenue estimates up by $10,000 for next year.

Earlier in the meeting, Jones pointed out that there are other ways the county could save money, too, in addition to cutting department budgets.

For example, he said the Commission already decided not to fund social services this year, and there’s also about $2 million “that we haven’t completely allocated, that we held in reserve, (that) can be used for operations.”

“Let’s take a look at $1 million pulling out of there,” he said.

The county also has about $1.3 million in revenues remaining from the local half percent sales tax for economic development, and Jones suggested using half of that amount to help cover the local ambulance system.

“That’s controversial,” he said. “(But) it’s potentially there, if I can get anybody to agree with it.”

The Commission will continue holding budgeting hearings over the coming months as they work to craft next year’s budget, which is set to be finalized at the end of June.