Week Four of the Legislative Session Sees Changes To Property Tax Relief Bill

Michael Smith for AARP Wyoming

Gillette lawmakers Ken Clouston (left) and Reuben Tarver talk during debate in Cheyenne last week.

It seems as though the Legislature would like to use Senate File 69 as its starting point. Big picture - this bill allows 50% decrease off the first $1 million in your home’s fair market value. There is no backfill to local taxing entities. Thursday, Representative Ken Clouston (R-Campbell) brought an amendment to Senate File 69 that would allow for a 50% decrease of your properties’ actual increase in value between 2019 and 2024. That would go into effect in 2026.

That might be a bit confusing, so let me try again - If your home’s value went up 60% over that time, you’d pay property tax as if your home’s value only went up 30% over that time. Clouston’s amendment came on the bill’s second reading in the House. The House will take up third reading on Feb. 18 to allow for more amendments to be suggested before a final version of the bill passes. Discussion on the floor of the House suggests many House members like it, but most think it could use some fine tuning. No one likes a budget cut, but the new version of the bill means counties, and other taxing entities would not see near the haircut that Senate File 69 would have meant, one estimate was 15% reductions for some counties instead of 50%.

What Other Relief Bills Are Still Out there?
Senate File 69 (mentioned above) still needs to get through one more read in the House and then a conference committee of members of the House and Senate will negotiate the two versions that were passed in each chamber into one version. However, there are a couple other property tax relief bills sponsored by Rep. Tony Locke (R-Natrona) out there. House Bill 169 - Homeowners Tax Exemption 25-26 would remove the first 50% off the first $1 million of your home’s value. This bill would be backfilled to schools, counties, and other taxing entities at roughly 50% of what it takes to get to a full backfill for schools, counties, and special districts. This would go into effect for just two years. The other bill that is still alive is House Bill 282 - Acquisition Value. This bill would mean you pay on what your house was worth when you bought it. If you bought before 2019, you would pay based on what the home’s value was worth in 2019. This would not be backfilled.

Then There’s Budget Amendments…
But wait, there’s more… During the debate on amendments to the state’s supplemental budget two amendments passed their respective chambers and could help backfill county services. An amendment offered by Representative John Bear (R-Campbell) would take $72 million from the state’s general fund and let the eight counties with the lowest assessed values apply for some backfill. On the Senate side, Senator Barry Crago (R-Johnson/Sheridan) has an amendment that would take $15 million of state money and fund the special districts of the state to 100%. If you are confused by all of the property tax relief measures, you aren’t alone. Just remember, if you take the Property Tax for Long Term Homeowners (65 and 25), you can only use that program, but still apply for the Property Tax Refund.