Legislative Update - The Next Steps On Property Tax Relief

AARP Wyoming Photos By Michael Smith

Today, both chambers are digging into the final amendments on the state’s supplemental budget. The House is likely to stay in session well after the basketball highlights are shown on your local news, and the amendments will take a long time to sort out, let’s talk about what we know as of 10 a.m. on Friday.

Property Tax Discussions...
Senate File 69 passes the House (it passed the Senate last week), state residents whose home is valued at less than $1M will see half their property tax go away. However, local governments, and special districts are being more vocal about the impacts of SF69 (estimated at $225 million in lost dollars each year to taxing entities) and other relief bills that result in revenue cuts. Among the special districts that would be impacted are the state’s 15 Hospital Districts, and 13 Senior Services districts. The message we are hearing is that property tax relief comes with a cost and if these bills pass, expect a reduction in services for things such as plowing roads, fire protection, and recreation that has traditionally been paid for by county and rec districts.

Property Tax Bills Are Moving
We aren’t sure if it is effective lobbying, a number of calls from home, or buyer’s remorse from lawmakers, but several budget amendments (including this one and this one) appeared last night which would offer a number of other backfill options. None of the proposed amendments bring as much funding as counties, and special districts are used to, but better than nothing. This is going to take some time to see what bills pass and how the amendments fit with the bills that move forward.

In 2025’s session, there are so many property tax relief bills that there is even a bill to tell the Wyoming Department of Revenue what order to apply those relief efforts. For simplicity's sake, understand that if you accept the Long-Term Homeowners Exemption (25 years paying residential property tax in Wyoming and age 65 or over) you would not be able to take advantage of any of the other available programs. If you don’t, House Bill 130 would (still alive in the House) allow for a 50% exemption on the first $200,000 of your home’s value and would backfill taxing entities who would be impacted thanks to a $176 million state spend. A bill that would let you base your home’s value on the price it was worth whenever you bought it, HB282 (if you bought it after 2019) or before (which would lock you into 2019’s value) is still kicking too.

We need to offer public thanks to a few friends this week for killing a budget amendment that we believe would make it more difficult to secure long-term funding of emergency services for Vulnerable Adults on Wednesday. Thanks to Senate Vice President Tim Salazar (R-Fremont) and Majority Floor Leader Tara Nethercott (R-Laramie) for speaking against the measure, leading to its demise. On the House side, Cody Wylie (R-Sweetwater), Landon Brown (R-Laramie), and Lloyd Larsen (R-Fremont) offered reasons to vote against the amendment in The House. Freshman House member Nina Webber (R-Park) has brought the amendment back for a third reading vote in the House scheduled for Friday afternoon… Stay tuned.