SWEETWATER COUNTY – A recommendation for $20 million in property tax relief has the support of Sweetwater County Assessor Dave Divis.
Gov. Mark Gordon’s 2025-26 budget proposal includes an earmark for $20 million in property tax relief to help homeowners struggling with increased property tax bills. The program was expanded in 2023 and provides a refund of up to 75% of the applicant’s property taxes from the prior year. So far, the Wyoming Department of Revenue has paid $8.3 million to almost 9,000 households, according to Gordon.
Divis supports the program as it targets people who he said need the help. Property tax in Wyoming has increased significantly throughout the state because of a heated property sales market during the COVID-19 pandemic. Property taxes are determined by a fair market value as assessed by a county assessor, with one of the factors influencing that value being the price homes sell for within a given area. Remote work and COVID-19 stimulus packages allowed people living outside Wyoming to relocate to the Cowboy State as they sought places with lower costs of living.
The influx of people heated property markets and allowed buyers flush with cash to actively bid against each other, drastically driving up the price of homes in many counties. Divis said a few outliers can be ignored when assessing property values, but if the entire market starts selling for higher amounts, there isn’t much an assessor can do to keep property taxes from increasing. While Sweetwater County didn’t see massive increases in property tax values, other counties reported double-digit percentage point increases year after year.
A need for the program does exist within the county. Divis said 282 property owners in Sweetwater County applied for the refund program last year, with approximately $175,000 given back to 256 recipients. The average refund was $684.68. In 2021, there were 113 applicants, with 80 approved. The average refund then was $540.
Divis said one flaw with the refund program is a taxpayer has to pay their tax bills before receiving a refund but views the program itself better tax policy than a tax exemption proposal that proponents are aiming to put on the 2024 ballot. Divis previously voiced his concerns about the proposal during an interview with Al Harris on his “Let’s Talk” program last month, saying it would impact funding for education and counties that rely on property taxes to operate. For Divis, the important aspect of any relief proposal is that it helps people who need it.
“We truly need to help the people who cannot afford their tax burden,” he said.
Divis said another proposal being discussed by state legislators would make property tax subject to the sales price of an individual property and believes this approach would be problematic as well. Divis said situations would arise where one property would be taxed at a different rate than a neighboring property because one property was sold more recently than the other. Divis also has concerns about legislators not properly separating residential property taxes out of the legal category they’re included in. Wyoming taxes three different types of property – mineral, industrial and as Divis says “everything else.” That last item combines residential property with agricultural property, commercial property, and others. Without separating residential property from the rest, a short-sighted bill could cause problems with property assessment and tax collection.
Wyoming continues to rank low when it comes to the collection of taxes. The state doesn’t have an income tax like its neighbors and ranks 10th lowest in property taxes according to information Divis received from Rocket Mortgage. Divis said Wisevoter.com lists Wyoming as having the 11th lowest sales tax in the U.S. The research is part of a presentation Divis will make to high school students where he hopes to show them that while higher salaries exist outside the state, the amount they get to keep might be lower because of higher state taxes and income taxes.
“It’s about how much you keep, not how much you make,” he said.
