Fremont County, Riverton approve resolutions to place 3/4 percent sales tax question on local ballots

(Fremont County, WY) – The Fremont County Commission and the Riverton City Council both passed resolutions this week approving the placement of an optional .75 percent sales tax measure on primary ballots in August to support public ground transportation, commercial air service, and the local ambulance system.

Neither decision was unanimous, however: Commissioners Clarence Thomas and Jennifer Wilson and Councilmember Karen Johnson each voted against the resolution.

Opposed

Thomas was the first to speak against the resolution during this week’s Commission meeting, expressing disappointment that an optional sales tax measure was the solution being proposed to fund the identified essential services – especially the ambulance.

Instead, he said the Fremont County Association of Governments’ Joint Committee on Funding Key Services should have spent more time working on a system in which local municipalities contribute to ambulance funding based on each town’s usage.

“We, as governments, could band together through FCAG and say, ‘OK, we know who uses the ambulance the most and who doesn’t – well, by percentage those who use the most will pay the most (to) help support the ambulance,’” Thomas said. “But that seems to be a problem. And now we’re at the point where we’re wanting to … go back to (our constituents) and say, ‘Well, we couldn’t come up with a reasonable idea as a government to try to settle this, so we’re just going to make you pay a tax.’”

Wilson agreed that the sales tax option was not the solution she expected the FCAG committee to propose.

“I’m adamantly against this,” she said. “This was not what was asked. … We asked that you look outside the box – come up with some ideas of how we can do this and not go (to a tax).”

For example, she said, more municipalities in Fremont County could work to develop their own ambulance systems and “take responsibility” for offering the service to their residents, “instead of putting it all on the county.”

“We don’t even have a statute that (says) we have to do this, but … it’s been put on us,” Wilson said. “So … I’m not in favor of this (sales tax option) whatsoever, and I will not put my name on it.”

During Tuesday’s Riverton City Council meeting, Johnson said she didn’t like the idea of combining the three essential services into one ballot measure. 

“Lumping all three of these together isn’t widely supported,” she said, noting that the constituents she has spoken with about the sales tax question tend to “support one or the other” of the services listed in the resolution, but not all three. 

Based on that feedback, Johnson said, “I don’t feel it’s right to put the ambulance service with the airport and (public ground transportation)” on the ballot.

“It’s not that I don’t support the ambulance service – I do,” she said. “(But) I would stand in agreeance with a lot of these folks that these three should not be lumped together. They each hold a different type of support from the community, and … I want to garner the most support that we can for the things that we truly need – which are all three – but I don’t know that a resolution to include all three is where we should be.” 

Johnson also emphasized the importance of providing “clear, transparent, and articulated” information to local voters about “where and how this money is going to be spent” if the sales tax option is approved.

“Full transparency is going to be necessary to get this passed, (and) I don’t see that on a couple of these,” she said, pointing specifically to the county ambulance service, which is currently operated by a private company that isn’t required to share its financial information with the public. 

Because that financial information isn’t public, “we can’t be transparent about what the money will be used for” if the sales tax passes, Johnson explained.

“We don’t know if it’s for wages, we don’t know if it’s for additional ambulances or rigs, we don’t know if it is to subsidize the payments that they’re not getting – we don’t know what the money is being used for,” she said. 

Mick Pryor, the Chair of FCAG’s Joint Committee on Funding Key Services, agreed with Johnson’s sentiment about the ambulance service not being required to share the financial information, adding that, in his opinion, the local ambulance service should be “entirely public.”

“Unfortunately, we’re in a situation right now where we can’t afford (that),” he said. “And quite frankly, those (local) monies are going away as property taxes continue to decline. So ultimately we’re trying to solve a situation that is quickly evolving and trying to be ahead of it.”

Support

Councilmember Kyle Larson likened the situation to the old adage about making sausage: “Not too many people like to see the sausage made, (but) it sure tastes good.”

In other words, he explained, regardless of the mechanism or the cost, “if somebody gets hurt (and) needs an ambulance … the service has to be available.”

“That’s what big cities, or cities that are trying to be big, or cities that are civilized, have,” Larson said. “And they have airports.”

Councilmember Mike Bailey agreed that the essential services identified in the resolution are amenities “that reasonable people want to have in their community, (because) we want our kids to grow up and stay here and have jobs here and live here.”

“If we don’t step up to help these services be available, we’re not going to have a community,” he predicted. “So I strongly support this. … We all have to pitch in and make (it) work.”

The sales tax option is the best way to ensure that every local resident helps pay for the three essential services, Commission Ron Fabrizius said during this week’s Commission meeting. 

“I’m in favor of the sales tax because everybody pays,” he said. “Everybody seems to go to the grocery store. Everybody seems to buy vehicles. And that (sales) tax would come in for these very issues. … So, I’m in favor of it.”

Commissioner Mike Jones said he supported the resolution because he wants to let local voters decide whether to tax themselves to fund the services listed.

“(This measure) gives us an opportunity to say, ‘Hey, at this time this is our best shot at how to fund these services and relieve some of the general fund (money) that we have going into this and prepare us for the future,’” he said. “So, I am very much in favor of putting this in front of the voters and asking the question.” 

The Commission and a majority of Fremont County municipalities must approve the resolution supporting the .75 percent sales tax measure in order for the question to appear on local ballots this year.

Alternatively, the measure could also reach the ballot through a petition signed by 5 percent of Fremont County’s qualified electors.