CHEYENNE – Wyoming property owners will see some relief on their property tax bills in the next biennium after Gov. Mark Gordon signed three bills focused on property tax relief Thursday.

Gordon signed  HB0003 – Property tax exemption for long-term homeowners; HB0045 – Property tax exemption-residential structures and land; and SF0089 – Veterans ad valorem exemption-amount. House Bill 3 provides an exemption of 50% of a property’s value for primary residence homeowners if the primary owner of the residence or their spouse is 65 or older and has paid property taxes in the state for 25 years or more. House Bill 45 puts a 4% cap on year-to-year property tax increases on residential structures and land, while Senate File 89 doubles the veterans tax exemption from $3,000 to $6,000 of assessed value. 

“I am happy to sign this package of legislation, which provides targeted relief to taxpayers most impacted by increasing valuations, while ensuring our counties and schools are able to continue to provide the services our residents rely on,” Gordon said. “There was an identified need, and this legislature responded to that.”

Gordon did use a line-item veto of House Bill 4, the property tax refund program, to remove the highest income category from the program. Gordon penned a letter explaining the move, explaining the bill brings expanded and needed relief, but he has concerns the $20 million appropriated by legislators wouldn’t be sufficient if that highest income category was included.

“I want to thank the Legislature for answering the call and funding an expansion of this program, which helped more than 9,000 Wyoming families last year,” he said.

Gordon vetoed SF0054 – Homeowner tax exemption, saying the exemption wasn’t targeted and potentially jeopardized the financial stability of the state and counties. He believes the bill was a “socialistic type of wealth transfer” to homeowners and said the backfill of lost local tax revenue would cost the state more than $220 million during the biennium.