City attorney speaks out against property tax petition

City Attorney Mark Hughes is concerned about a petition currently circulating in this area – so much so that he felt the need to speak publicly about the damage it could do at last week’s meeting of the Sundance City Council.

The night before, he said, he attended a meeting at which the Republican Central Committee was urged to adopt a petition that demands property taxes be cut by 50%.

“I didn’t sign it, but I think a lot of people did. It was urged by the people there to sign the petition, and I just want to say publicly that people ought to think about that before they sign that petition,” Hughes said.

Mayor Paul Brooks noted that the bulk of property tax goes to schools, “so you’re cutting schools”.

That’s right, Hughes responded, but, “They’re going to make it up somewhere because the Supreme Court is going to make sure they’re funded properly. And that means cities and towns are probably going to get less money – and right now we’re having a hard time even finding people to plow our highways or hire highway patrolmen”.

Hughes shared strong feelings about the consequences of a 50% cut to property taxes.

“It’s a ridiculous notion, it would starve this state of money that’s needed to run the state. If we don’t want to have roads, if we don’t want to have employees to take care of the highways, if we don’t want to have a sheriff’s department, then go ahead and sign it and see if it passes and goes into law,” he said.

“But I’m just going to tell you, beware before you sign it.”

Brooks responded that he feels there is a misconception out there that the “rainy day fund” can make up the difference if property taxes are cut.

“Everybody seems to think that if you cut taxes they’re going to raid the Permanent Mineral Royalty Trust Fund and obviously the people who think they’re going to raid it haven’t read the criteria for raiding it,” he said.

This fund contains tax money from minerals that has long been set aside so that, when the minerals run out, the interest and dividends will backfill the loss in revenue, he said.

This state in the last 120 years has grown less than 70,000 people, he continued, “So the fact of the matter is, we can’t count on population growth to fund the thing, we have to plan ahead, and that’s how that is set up.”

Hughes continued that he understands property taxes have risen substantially over the last two or three years and that those on fixed incomes in particular have suffered, “But you cut it back by 50%, it’s going to leave the state in a big, big hole.”

The conversation turned to the fact that Wyomingites already pay lower taxes than most Americans.

Brooks noted that his ex son-in-law pays more property tax in a month in Spearfish than he himself pays in a year in Sundance.

Hughes pointed out that Wyoming is 49th out of 50 states in terms of the lowest tax burden in the nation, stating, “I think it’s the most ridiculous notion that’s ever come across the Republican Central Committee.”

Council Member Randy Stevenson commented that people should take a trip out to the east or west coasts to see how good we’ve got it here in Wyoming.

“We’ve got a golden deal already,” he said.

Hughes noted that over 50 bills have already been filed for the next session and five or six of those are on tax reform. He suggested that the council should reflect on the potential consequences of a large cut to property tax if such a measure passes through the Legislatures.