ROCK SPRINGS — A funding cut of nearly $50,000 by the Sweetwater County commissioners is being cited as a primary reason for the upcoming closure of VIRS Respite Care in Rock Springs.
Melissa Searle, the executive director for the organization, issued a press release last week announcing the closure and marked March 31 as the last day of operation. VIRS provides home care and relief for long-term caregivers of elderly and mentally disabled people. The staff consists of 10 Certified Nursing Assistants, many of whom Searle says have worked at VIRS for more than 10 years. She said the CNAs at VIRS receive a lower salary than the average wages a CNA receives in Wyoming, saying the employees believed in the organization’s mission.
Searle told SweetwaterNOW the organization has an annual operating budget of about $220,000, saying the loss in funding from the county commissioners was what made it impossible for VIRS to continue. VIRS took a large budgetary hit in county funding when the commissioners approved the 2025-2026 budget. The budget allocates $49,500 to the organization, a figure that is a $49,500 decrease from the $99,000 budgeted by the county during the 2024-2025 budget year. Since the 2016 budget year, the amount of money VIRS received from the county has fluctuated from its highest level of $124,000 during that budget year but remained above $100,000 until the 2024-2025 budget year. Prior to that, the county funded VIRS $104,500 each fiscal year from 2021 to 2024.
Searle said while the county has given the organization in-kind donations of office space and utilities, VIRS has dealt with multiple funding declines. Searle said those declines resulted in VIRS laying off one staff member and not providing a cost of living or wage increases to its providers for the past five years.
“At this point we had no remaining areas where costs could be reduced without impacting client care,” she said.
Searle said VIRS has looked for additional grant funding from organizations such as the Daniels Fund, Wyoming Community Foundation, the Pacific Power Foundation, along with hosting fundraisers. Searle said those efforts allowed VIRS to operate longer than expected, but wasn’t enough to offset the county’s cuts.
“While other agencies in our community provide similar services, none offer the same services and not on a sliding scale fee. Our 123 clients and family members will struggle to access or afford comparable care,” Searle said.
However, Sweetwater County also deals with declining revenues. Sweetwater County Commissioner Island Richards spoke about continued funding challenges the county will face during Gov. Mark Gordon’s recent budget discussion in Rock Springs Monday.
He said the county has done more with less over the past 15 years, finding ways to reduce redundancies and consolidate services and buildings. He anticipates the 2027 county revenues to be lower, which will lead to the commissioners making difficult decisions during their upcoming budget discussions. The current budget accounted for $51.1 million in revenues, which represents a 9.42% decline in revenue from the 2024-2025 budget. The county attributes that decline to the 25% property tax exemption passed by the Wyoming Legislature in 2025 as property taxes contribute 74.6% of the county’s total revenue. The county’s operating budget declined 12.84% from the 2025 fiscal year, with its capital expenditures budget decreasing 35.07%.
The county commissioners have looked for areas to cut spending and have seen funding to organizations outside the county umbrella as prime places to cut. Richards has also previously spoken about a desire to wean nongovernment organizations from county funds as well, believing the county should focus on organizations it is required to fund. The two senior centers took cuts from the county in the current budget, with Young at Heart in Rock Springs receiving a $20,000 cut in its allocation from 2025, while Golden Hour in Green River received a $40,000 cut. The YWCA also received $61,000 less this year than the commissioners’ allocation for the 2024-2025 budget year.
