Riverton City Council to revisit previous half cent funding allocation for air service; WRTA requests $186,000

(Riverton, WY) – The new 2025 Riverton City Council plans to discuss potentially reconsidering the 2024 council’s recent decision to allocate the rest of the city’s discretionary half percent sales tax funding for economic development to commercial air service.

“I would be interested in revisiting that,” newly seated Councilmember Karen Johnson said during a meeting this week. “I think there are organizations that are deserving of consideration of those funds that would be very helpful to the community.”

The new council has the ability to amend the allocation for sales tax income received in 2025, City Administrator Kyle Butterfield said, estimating that the tax would generate about $300,000 between January and May, when revenue is expected to stop coming in.

Johnson suggested that some of that money could go to the new Riverton’s Mercy House homeless shelter effort, while other council members said the entities that applied for the city’s final round of sales tax funding – which ended up going to the Riverton Medical District – could be considered for the allocation, too.

Councilmember Mike Bailey said it would be important to clearly define who would be eligible for the funding if the council decides to reconsider the sales tax allocation.

“We need to decide how broad we’re going to open that up,” he said. “(Are we) going to look at existing … applications, or are we going to open it up to let Mercy House apply or anybody else apply that hadn’t been in the process before?”

Johnson said she would like Mercy House to be eligible for the funding, noting that the “precedent was set” to make awards outside of the formal application process when the RMD received its recent half-percent sales tax allocation without submitting a formal application.

“I’d like to at least consider the Mercy House,” she said. “The RMD (didn’t go) through the full process, and so I think it would be fair to allow them to do that as well.”

But Bailey pointed out that other outside entities may ask to apply for the funding then, too, and “the line might get long.”

“I’m not necessarily against having the discussion,” he said. “I just think we need to make sure we’re defined on what we want to receive.”

WRTA

The council heard from one of those other entities later in the meeting, when Wind River Transportation Authority Director Tim Nichols requested about $186,000 of the city’s remaining half percent sales tax funds.

If that amount is matched by the City of Lander and Fremont County, Nichols said the WRTA would be able to “maintain essential services until long-term solutions can be arranged” to replace the funding it lost when the half percent sales tax option failed renewal this fall.

The Community Transportation Association of America has committed to helping WRTA develop those long-term funding solutions, Nichols added – including by re-evaluating “a future funding initiative” like another optional sales tax measure.

CTAA has “an 80 percent success rate in supporting similar ballot initiatives,” Nichols said, noting that the national organization has also “acknowledged (that) funding public transportation without subsidy is unrealistic.”

“This reinforces what we’ve always known: that WRTA, a public entity, exists not to generate revenue and profit but to provide an essential service for the people of the community that it supports,” Nichols said. 

Over the past year, WRTA has made “extraordinary strides in improving public transportation in Fremont County” by launching new Safe Ride and Rodeo Roundup programs, adding bus stops, refining route schedules, and introducing the new Yellow Line between Lander and Riverton, Nichols said – but that “momentum” was “short-lived” due to the failure of the half percent sales tax, which previously accounted for more than 40 percent of WRTA’s local match requirement for federal grant funding.

“(That) loss left us facing a staggering gap in our future budgets,” Nichols said. “(So) our team immediately pivoted to assess the financial risks and strategize how to best preserve essential services while maintaining fiscal responsibility.”

By last month, Nichols said “it became clear that some difficult decisions were unavoidable,” so this week the WRTA “implemented the painful decision to temporarily suspend the Yellow Line service – a service that we had celebrated just months earlier as a landmark achievement in regional connectivity.”

“Additionally, we scaled back the frequency of our services and made the tough call to remove a single bus stop from our fixed route system,” he said. 

The decision to remove that stop sparked “a very divisive conversation” when it was announced on County 10, Nichols noted, offering a response to the public concerns that have been expressed about the route change.

“WRTA understands the public’s frustration over the removal of the Walmart stop from our fixed route services,” Nichols said. “This decision was not made lightly. However, the stop averaged fewer than 10 riders per month, making it one of the lesser utilized in our network. Continuing to service this location required a disproportionate amount of time and resources (that) could be better utilized and allocated to reduce route length and consolidate staffing needs for the services that generate revenue or fulfill contract obligations.”

As a public transportation professional, Nichols said “I really despise (being) forced to prioritize revenue-generating over service to the public,” but because the half percent sales tax measure failed this fall, he said WRTA has “no choice but to but to prioritize services that are financially sustainable.”

“We share in the disappointment (about) these changes, but they are a result of an unavoidable reality,” Nichols said. “Without broader support from the community or its leaders, WRTA must make difficult decisions to ensure that we can continue to operate and serve as many people as possible.

“We encourage our community (to) join us in finding solutions rather than being offended by the outcomes of the financial situation that WRTA alone cannot resolve.”

Bailey applauded Nichols for making the decision to remove the Walmart stop, agreeing that, “realistically, you’re going to have to stop where the people are.”

“Ten people a month … doesn’t justify (a stop at Walmart),” Bailey said. “If there was a need, there would be more people getting on the bus.”

However, Councilmember Eric Carr, who has experience working on “many mass transit and public transportation projects throughout the Rocky Mountain West,” pointed out that there is a difference between the “popularity” of a stop and the “need” for a stop.

“Those 10 people may have really had a need to get to Walmart,” Carr said. “(That’s) an important thing to consider, especially when we’re talking about public transportation.”

Regardless, Carr said Nichols “made the right decision” in this case, based on the “economic reality” WRTA is facing.

In the future, Bailey expressed hope that the WRTA funding problem could be resolved so the local buses could “stop everywhere you think (they) ought to.”

“We’re going to bring this all up for discussion (when we revisit) the discretionary funds,” Bailey said. “The airport and transportation are what I feel are the most important and the (best) economic generators in our community.”

Earlier, Nichols had cited studies showing that “(for) every dollar invested in public transportation, approximately $4 are generated in economic returns” due to “an increase in access to jobs, education, and healthcare, as well as reduced transportation costs for families and individuals.”

“Public transportation is not simply a budget line – it’s a lifeline,” Nichols said. “By investing in public transportation, you invest in a stronger, more connected, more inclusive Fremont County. The decision you make at your next meeting … will define the future for the residents who rely on WRTA, the businesses that we support, and the community that we all build together.”

For more information, call the City of Riverton at (307) 856-2227.