SWEETWATER COUNTY — A public hearing about a proposed improvement and service district that would encompass property in Lincoln County and Sweetwater County ended with the Sweetwater County Board of County Commissioners deciding to adjourn to host further discussions with their Lincoln County counterparts.

The petitioners for the district seek permission to form a board for the proposed Lincoln Star Improvement and Service District amongst the landowners involved in the petition. So far, Lincoln County hasn’t authorized an election to create the Lincoln Star Improvement and Service District. The petitioners say the district will help support economic development in both Sweetwater County and Lincoln County. 

Stephen P. Allen, one of the petitioners for the district, told the commissioners the situation is a private property rights discussion because the only voters in the proposed district are the landowners involved. The Lincoln Star Improvement and Service District would consist of four land parcels, not connected to one another, with three of them located in Lincoln County. The assessors in both counties raised concerns about the proposed district’s unusual composition. According to Sweetwater County Assessor Dave Divis, the parcel in Sweetwater County has an assessed value of $1,218. He voiced concerns about the small assessed values of the property within the proposed district in a letter to the commissioners.

Allen said the state has signed off on the proposal and claimed there was no tax impact to the government or property owners, saying the only reason a district could initiate a mill levy is if it were a medical services district. He also said the county will benefit if development occurs within the district. 

“By including my assets in with Lincoln County, this is going to open up opportunities for Southwest Wyoming to bring in that mid-level economic development,” Allen said. “We have a lot of businesses in that 50-500 employee range that can’t afford to put infrastructure in themselves. This improvement district is solely there to help find opportunities for bringing infrastructure and encouraging those businesses to utilize it.

Allen said the area won’t always get massive industrial developments like the TerraPower nuclear reactor in Kemmerer or the expansion at the trona mines and says leaders need to break the boom-bust economic cycle and diversify the economy.

“My participation in this is basically me putting my money where my mouth is, along with my assets, in order to support a great idea that would provide opportunity for growth,” Allen said.

Allen said other land owners could join the district at any time in the future. 

The commissioners asked several questions to Allen, with Commissioner Robb Slaughter questioning how a non-connecting district could share infrastructure to benefit economic development. Allen said once the district is formed, it will allow investors to negotiate with the district and allow the district’s board to consider areas both within and outside of it. He said the district wouldn’t be limited to considering development within its boundaries. 

Slaughter also noted that the district’s principals not only included Allen, the county’s chief of staff, but also the Lincoln County Treasurer, Jerry Greenfield, and a Lincoln County commissioner. He asked if the possibility for bias exists with the potential board. Allen said county commissioners weren’t involved in the potential district and said whatever Greenfield wanted to do with his land was up to Greenfield.

“I know for me, I saw this as nonconflicting as my land is in Sweetwater, not in Lincoln County,” Allen said. “I don’t get a say or a vote in it anyway.”

Slaughter said he struggles with the idea of the district being non-contiguous and said the proposal was originally for a district with connecting parcels. Mary Crosby, another representative for the petitioners, said she had conversations with attorneys who originally liked the idea, but didn’t like being a partner with the county, saying corporations “want to do things their way.”

“We want economic development, the cost of infrastructure is what keeps those smaller corporations who cannot build their own island – what keeps them out of Southwestern Wyoming,” Crosby said. “Can I guarantee this will work? No. It’s a mechanism that allows investment we have not been able to access in the past.”

Concerns Aired

Sweetwater County Clerk Cindy Swenson raised a possible issue with legal advertising that had been done in Lincoln County. She said the legal notices were published in the Star Valley Independent.

West, reading from state statute, said a legal publication of a tax district hearing would need to be posted in at least three public places and two insertions in a county’s newspaper of record at least 10 business days prior to the hearing. Swenson handed the commissioners the postings that took place in Lincoln County, which were published Aug. 20 and 27. She said the hearing took place Sept. 2, after three business days’ notice from that second legal publication, with West confirming state statute specifies that the hearing would need to take place 10 business days after the second notice was published. Notification for Sweetwater County’s hearing took place Oct. 9 and 16, with notice also being posted on the county’s website, the Sweetwater County Library in Green River, and on a bulletin board at the county courthouse. Swenson said she was unaware of where the Lincoln County notice was posted. 

Divis spoke to the commissioners as well, saying his role in the process is to review the boundaries of the district for conflicts or issues within 60 days of receiving the petition. He said he has concerns about the proposal because the district would comprise four parcels of land not connecting to one another across two counties. He believes the situation would set a precedent for very small tax districts, leading to mill levies being created for small groups of landowners.

“We’ve seen this in the past where we’ve had difficulty getting board members,” Divis said, mentioning the Jamestown Fire District and solid waste districts that have had issues with board vacancies. He also voiced concern that If a land owner then later sells the parcel they’re continuing to the district, they may sell it at a later point – leading to a change in membership on the board. Divis also cited a portion of the packet provided to the Lincoln County commissioners showing the district is much larger, with “dozens of properties in a concentrated area.” Divis also said Allen’s land in Sweetwater County would only amount to 1.4% of the total value of the district.

“I do not see how the Sweetwater County parcel can benefit from being part of the district and I don’t know how the district can benefit from having this parcel,” Divis said. “In my opinion, an improvement service district should have common improvement or service to provide to the property owners of a given area.”

Divis said an example of a common improvement for an area could be found in Farson, where residents of the area voted for a specific project and created a mill levy to pay off bonds related to the project. 

“That, in my opinion, is what an improvement service district is intended to do,” Divis said. “I see no specific project or service from this Lincoln Star Improvement District and it makes me question why Sweetwater County should be a part of this.”