Fremont County is large, diverse, and filled with opinions, or “talk in the 10.” “Talk in the 10” is an opportunity for you, our readers, to articulate and share your thoughts about what is happening in the community with the community. Letters may have been edited for clarity and length, but generally have been published exactly as received. The views expressed in the following are solely those of the author. Send your letters to our editors by emailing opinion@county10.com
Dear County 10 Reader:
I would like to add my thoughts on the ½ cent tax. I have been a close follower of this issue for some time and have been in many conversations with folks in positions of power, i.e Mayor Hancock, Administrator Kyle Butterfield, Allan Moore and Idea Board, FCAG open meetings as well as coffee clutches with many citizens.
In those meetings, all parties agree that keeping the ½ cent tax is critical to the continued operation of our regional airport as well as supporting ground transportation in our county. Where we start to disagree is how the 70% of the funding is being used in our county for “economic development”. In my opinion, some of this use has not been an ethical use of my tax dollars.
Because of my questioning this “use” of our tax dollars, I have been accused of being “stupid,” “envious,” ” short sighted,” ” not caring about our community” etc. None of these are true, except perhaps the stupid one.
These are all citizens that I have talked to with the best of intentions, that are interested in the well being of our county. Their efforts are all legal and above board but in my opinion this ½ cent local option tax is based on a flawed design. It was passed on the enthusiastic wave of building a new hospital but its flaws started showing up when the large amounts of money started rolling in with the consequent pressure of how to disperse it and to whom. That is where the fuzzy definition of “economic development” started to show its many faces. With seven different boards across the county and human nature being what it is, it should not have been a surprise to anyone that there would be problems.
I have told several citizens in the past that I will not support it. After attending the FCAG meeting this morning (8/8/24) firm assurance was received that the MOU (memorandum of understanding) as described by FCAG chairman, Joel Highsmith, and the other six members of FCAG will be changed to reflect a significant reduction in the economic development funding from 70% to 20%.
This MOU is a formal agreement within FCAG. These changes will allow for the additional support for our county ambulance service and additional monies to the revenue guarantee for the airport as well as additional monies for ground transportation. With those assurances I will vote for this needed tax and encourage all my friends to do the same.
To get a local option tax passed is not a small accomplishment in this diverse county. The financial assistance to our county for the above programs even with the 20%, questionable use, to me is worth the risk at this time. This tax is the best possible way to do it as about 30% of it is paid from the traveling public. I hope that the voters will agree.
Ron Warpness, Concerned Citizen.
Riverton