ROCK SPRINGS — Property tax relief was a major topic of discussion during a legislative report Thursday evening at the Young at Heart Senior Center.

The legislature passed a 25% property tax exemption during the legislative session this year, with a 50% percent exemption set to appear on Wyoming ballots in 2026. While the reductions in property taxes will have an impact on upcoming budgets for municipalities, counties and special tax districts, with some legislators supporting the bills and saying voters wanted more action with property tax relief.

Sen. Laura Taliaferro Pearson of Senate District 14 said she received a mandate from voters while she was campaigning in the district. She said Lincoln County residential property taxes increased more than 114% in the past five years and residents wanted relief. She said people are tired of paying property tax, viewing it as rent paid to the government for land they own.

Rep. Marlene Brady of House District 60 said she had a short discussion with Sweetwater County Assessor Dave Divis about how the tax exemption would impact local government, but like Taliaferro Pearson, said she received a lot of comments from voters about property taxes while campaigning. She said many of her constituents would have rather seen the 50% reduction that was originally planned and doesn’t believe local governments will be deeply impacted by the reduction in property taxes. 

A comment Brady made about local governments needing to be run at 100% efficiently was met with a retort from Rock Springs City Councilman Rob Zotti, who said legislators aren’t elected to play big brother or big sister to the local governments and should wait until the state is running at 100% efficiency. Brady said it would take decades for the state to reach that 100% efficiency and said she meant her comment to compare to how a household is run, where important expenses like utilities and healthcare have to come before anything else. 

Rep. Cody Wylie, who represents House District 39, said 100% efficiency isn’t likely, but Wyoming is much more efficient with its tax revenues than other surrounding states. He said the state doesn’t operate at a deficit.

“We don’t build bridges to nowhere,” Wylie said.

Wylie said it isn’t for him to determine how local governments use their tax funds. He said the legislature needs to be willing to compromise and work towards a better future, viewing that as the best way for the state to move forward. 

Rep. Darin McCann of House District 48 said he agrees with what Taliaferro Pearson said and admits he didn’t contact local leadership for insight into how property tax cuts would impact local governments, saying he will in the future as he’s still learning his role in his first term as a representative. He said a poll conducted by the Freedom Caucus revealed property tax was one of the top five issues voters were concerned about during the session. 

Rock Springs resident Kathy Garrison, who previously served as the executive director of the Sweetwater Family Resource Center, voiced concerns about the county recently sending memos to 17 service agencies informing them the county may not have money in their budget for the groups this year. Garrison said McCann initially claimed the state had so much money that the property tax exemptions wouldn’t impact services and challenged legislators to make those agencies whole when examining the state’s budget in the 2026 session. McCann said he disagrees with Garrison, saying time will tell if service agencies will suffer or not.

“We’re going to find out – we’ll see how this ages,” McCann said.

We are in fact going to run out of money.

Sen. John Kolb, Senate District 12

Legislators did talk about attempts to backfill some of the lost revenue resulting from property tax exemptions, though those amendments ended up dying. Taliaferro Pearson said a house bill would have provided a backfill to local governments, but died. She also said she was upset a full senate vote didn’t occur with the decision to not provide a supplemental budget this year, saying she only found out about the decision after reading an article about the move. She admits she didn’t call for a vote to discuss the supplemental budget, but expressed her displeasure.

Losing services is something Sen. Stacy Jones of Senate District 13 expressed concern over. She said local officials are elected to manage their own funds and views upcoming issues with property tax as a perfect storm that could impact governmental services provided to residents, believing residents will definitely lose things. 

Wylie said he doesn’t want to leave residents within his district with less and said there were some bills in the House that looked to reform property taxes in Wyoming, though they ultimately died in favor of tax relief. He said he supported a bill for 25% property tax exemption that lacked the backfill option because he didn’t want a similar bill with a 50% exception to make its way through the House. He said an amendment that would have made equitable adjustments had him feeling good, but the amendment was killed in what he said was a short-sighted decision by the House’s leadership.

Sen. John Kolb, of Senate District 12 said property values have not kept up with inflation and said people in Sweetwater County were concerned with lower taxes and not wasting money. Kolb also issued a dire warning about state funding, saying the state is facing future shortfalls that will likely bankrupt it by 2028-2030.

“We are in fact going to run out of money,” Kolb said.