Wyoming Legislature 2023: What To Do With $1 Billion?

AARP Wyoming Photo

2023 Joint Appropriations Committee
Committee Chairs (click to meet the committee):

Senate - Dave Kinskey
House - Bob Nicholas

Senate committee members - Jim Anderson, Mike Gierau, Tara Nethercott, Tim Salazar
House committee members- Bill Henderson, Lloyd Larsen, Trey Sherwood, Clark Stith, Tom Walters, David Zwonitzer

Senator Dave Kinskey jumps into the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee this year and while it is his first chairmanship in the Wyoming Legislature, he is far from a rookie at the budget process. Kinskey has been a member of JAC since 2019. He also has a keen understanding of how to run meetings thanks to his time running his own private company, as well as his years as Sheridan’s Mayor.

“I thought about it and during my time as Mayor and time spent on other boards and committees, I have chaired over 500 council meetings,” he says. “ The Appropriations Committee is different than a lot of other committees. It is complex in a different way and demands all of your attention.”

Due to the combination of very high prices for natural gas, and oil, along with ARPA funding from the federal government, the state finds itself in the rare position of having nearly a $1 billion surplus. According to the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group’s October 2022 report, the state’s Fiscal Year 2023-24 forecast balance of the General Fund and Budget Reserve Accounts improved from its March report by $874.5 million, plus $45.2 million in reversions and reconciliations.

Kinskey says that means the state has some decisions to make about how, or if the money is spent. He feels like it makes sense to hold as much of that money in permanent funds and enjoy the interest income from those investments. 

“When you have a surplus like this,  you can spend it or you save it,” Kinskey says. “If you spend it, you have to decide if you are going to spend it on ongoing projects or as one-time money . If you are going to save it in an account where you can reach it, or permanent funds.

“I believe when you have a huge windfall, you put as much as possible in the permanent funds. The voters approved in 1971 the creation of a Permanent Mineral Trust Fund that holds mineral revenues and other monies and can’t be spent. It generates income that now accounts for 30% of the state’s budget. My concern is we want to make sure it more than keeps up with inflation and keeps growing. That will also stave off the potential for tax increases.”

Property tax, higher commodities pricing on items such as oil and gas, as well as federal ARPA dollars are to blame for the financial windfall the state is enjoying. However, Kinskey feels property tax collections have been much higher than was anticipated due to the fact property tax increased around the state at a rate of 25-30% for a couple years in a row. He would like to see that money given back

“When you talk about what you are going to do with extra money, I want to see a good chunk of it given back in a property tax break,” Kinskey says. “I feel like we should have some means of rebating that back to them. I am talking about 20-30-40 million or more. If those property taxes just went up in accordance with inflation, the state would have collected a lot less and it came out of the hides of working families.”

To that front, Kinskey will introduce a bill to cap the percent increase residents can see on their taxes in a year. The bill would also let counties remove mills in good financial years.

This year, the JAC started holding budget hearings with state agencies in mid-December. One of the committee’s top priorities, according to Kinskey, was restoring the funding for the Wyoming Home Services Program with the caveat that means testing (income verification) is done on those who receive the services. Right now, that program is paid for with 100% state funds, which Kinskey says means it competes with education funding and everything else in the budget. To him, that made the means testing more important. 

“We funded it for a year, and said come back with a real means testing program and it wasn’t out of a mean spirited way,” Kinskey says. “We want that General Fund money to go further and help more people so those who really can’t pay the freight can be helped.”

While the program is funded for the year, AARP Wyoming is supportive of a provision in the budget that would allow for the Department of Health to discuss alternate methods of funding the program with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. 

One request AARP had hoped would pass the JAC and didn’t was the concept of the Family Resource Center, which was supported by the Legislature in a Governor’s Letter. The Family Resource Center would have allowed for the formation of a more robust Aging and Disability Resource Center, to allow for a one-stop call for those who need the help to find it. 

“Unfortunately, you can’t keep spending on every good idea and program,” Kinskey says. “I think it's a program that  needs more explanation and to find a way to make sure it is financially sustainable.”