GREEN RIVER – The property tax refund program Wyoming has is seeing large-scale usage according to Sweetwater County Assessor Dave Divis.
Divis said his office pushed the property tax refund program heavily amongst county residents and statistics revealed it has become quite popular in Wyoming, which resulted in more funding being sought to keep the program going. He said as of July 10, the program has sent more than 5,000 refund checks amounting to $5.3 million. He said the initial state budget allotment for the biennium was $20 million and the Wyoming Department of Revenue anticipates spending $14 million of those funds this year alone.
“That’s due to the property values going up, expanding the requirements for the income, so they’re allowing more people to qualify,” Divis said. “What that’s doing is creating more refunds.”
The residential tax rate in Sweetwater County is approximately $1,600, which Divis said results in a potential maximum refund of more than $800. He said the department’s director intends to work with Gov. Mark Grodon’s office to create a supplemental budget request for additional funding in the program.
“This was for tax year 2023, the one we just completed,” Divis said. “The biennium also includes 2024, which is coming up.”
Divis said the department may need to prorate the amount allocated to refund applicants based on what’s left in the budget, but applicants would see a smaller portion of the refund they received previously.
Other statistics Divis shared include the state’s median household income increasing by 3.8% from 2022 to 2023. Additionally, the approval of House Bill 45 earlier this year resulted in assessors capping residential improvements at 4%, which he said has impacted valuations in Sweetwater County, which in turn impacts how much funding is generated to run governmental services.
“That value for Sweetwater County was $10.4 million in assessed value … so it was over $1 million in actual value that we had taken out,” Divis said.
Other counties saw a more noticeable impact from the new rule. Divis said the cap in Teton County eliminated $150 million of assessed value, which he said represents more than a billion dollars in market value that isn’t available to be assessed by the Teton County Assessor’s Office.
