Lander, Hudson pass 3/4 percent sales tax resolution; Dubois votes ‘no’

(Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect the vote taken during Tuesday’s Hudson Town Council meeting.)

(Lander, WY) – The Lander City Council and the Hudson Town Council both passed resolutions Tuesday approving the placement of an optional .75 percent economic development sales tax measure on primary election ballots in August to support public ground transportation, commercial air service, and the local ambulance system.

The Fremont County Commission and a majority of municipal governments have now approved the resolution, meaning the optional sales tax measure will appear on local primary election ballots.

Economic development

Lander City Councilmember Chad Cassady offered the only vote against the resolution during Tuesday’s meeting, explaining that, in his view, it wouldn’t be “right” to use economic development funding to support the three services listed.

“I want to see this solved, (but) not in this manner – not in this way, characterized as economic development,” he said. “It isn’t economic development. …

“Is there some far-down-the-road economic development benefit to having essential services of a civilized nation? Yes. (But) is that something that we use these procedures to pursue? I don’t think so.”

If the .75 percent ballot measure passes, he added, the county won’t be able to generate additional optional sales tax money to support “true” economic development projects until 2030 – and at that point, voters may no longer have the “appetite” to support the proposition due to a lack of “trust” in the outcome.

“There’s cynicism around this that we need to be sensitive to,” Cassady said. “If … you justify it as economic development and it’s contentious and it passes and there’s very little tangible economic development and you go back and you say, ‘We want to do another,’ (that’s) problematic.”

Cassady’s concerns are “very valid for us to consider,” Councilmember Julia Stuble said later in the meeting, suggesting that, if the sales tax option does proceed to the primary election, local officials should address those “debate points” about economic development “in a way that does build trust.”

She also noted that a separate agreement outlining the distribution method for the optional sales tax funding should be finalized well before the primary election, giving voters more information about how the money would be used.

The city council didn’t have the benefit of that additional information this week, however – something Councilmember Dan Hahn took issue with.

“I hate making decisions … with not enough information,” Hahn said. “It’s not fun, and … I think it’s kind of disrespectful for the people that have to (do it). I don’t like that.”

Regardless, Hahn said he would support the resolution because the sales tax is “a shared tax.”

“There’s going to be a lot of people putting into this three-quarter cent if it passes,” he said. “And even though I’m not 100 percent on everything, on where the money’s going, this tax right here is going to be shared by a lot of people, and that’s a great tax, because it takes a lot of burden off the people in town.”

He also guessed that, if the sales tax measure fails, the responsibility for funding the services listed in the resolution “is going to come back to all the municipalities.”

“It’s going to be on our lap,” he said. 

Putting the measure on the ballot gives local voters the chance to make that decision, Stuble pointed out.

“(That) is the conviction behind my ‘yes’ vote tonight,” she explained. “I don’t want to stand in the way of voters making this choice.”

Councilmember John Larsen agreed that “all we’re trying to do here tonight is say that we support putting this on the ballot.”

“We’re not saying we’re for it (or) against it,” he said. “We want to see it get put to the ballot.”

That was the overarching sentiment expressed during the Hudson Town Council meeting, too, Mayor Sherry Oler said this week.

The sales tax resolution passed 3-1 in Hudson on Tuesday, with the majority of the council agreeing that “regardless of what our personal opinion was, (the question) should be put to the voters,” Oler said.

After both resolutions passed this week, Mick Pryor, Chair of the Fremont County Association of Governments Joint Committee on Funding Key Services, said he is “encouraged that our elected leaders are willing to allow the voters to discern and decide the future of ambulances, commercial air service, and public transit in Fremont County.”

“We still have a lot of work before the election to provide the public with a sustainable business plan for the ambulance service should the sales tax pass,” he said. “This issue afflicts all of Wyoming and Fremont County especially. Public safety and access to emergency care should never be a political issue; it’s a common goal to rally around.”

Dubois

The Dubois Town Council considered the sales tax resolution on Wednesday and voted not to approve it, according to local officials, who said the decision was unanimous among those present: Mayor Patricia Neveaux, Councilmember Rick Lee, and Councilmember Amanda Ysen.

“The governing body of the Town of Dubois listened to the constituents who voted them into office and voted ‘no’ to the three-quarter percent tax resolution,” Neveaux said Thursday. “Funding of an airport and ground transportation should not be in the same category of funding as ambulance service.”