ROCK SPRINGS — The Rock Spring City Council voted 6-3 tonight in favor of moving forward on a specific use tax ballot initiative in 2022.

Council held a special meeting tonight to discuss the feasibility of putting a specific use tax on the ballot next November. This tax would differ from the general-purpose tax rejected by voters in the special election this year.

Government entities across Sweetwater County would be required to prioritize a list of projects that the tax would be used for and the initiative would include either a cost or timeframe cap.

Councilors Rob Zotti, David Halter, and Keaton West voted against the motion. Each said the November 2021 initiative was indicative of how residents feel about new taxes and don’t feel the communities will support the tax even if it’s earmarked for specific projects.

“That’s a heck of a lot of work to go through only to see it turn out as ugly as the general-purpose tax vote.” West told the Council. He currently serves as the Rock Springs liaison on the committee which oversaw the general-purpose tax initiative.

Halter echoed West’s thoughts saying he would support an initiative only if Council had a list of projects in front of them today. He said he’d like to know the projects’ costs and completion dates before approving a motion to move forward.

Council did not decide whether to roll out the initiative as a “cap” or “menu-item” style ballot vote. Most of the Council agreed that they didn’t want to see the tax extended beyond five years or exceed $90 million.

If we do decide to move forward with this, we would take our list and schedule a public workshop to finalize our list once we know what the limits will be.

Rock Springs Mayor Tim Kaumo

Councilor Tim Robinson voted in favor of the motion and said “let’s get a timeline together, and let’s get to work.” He said the city’s department heads need to prioritize their projects and let the voters know exactly what they’re going to be paying for each year if the initiative passes.

The county governing entities would have roughly 11 months to prioritize their lists before bringing them to the voters in November 2022.