Tax talk at CCCOG meeting

The Carbon County Council of Governments (CCCOG) met at 6:30 p.m. on March 20 at the Sinclair Town Hall.

Chairman Steve Nicholson was in attendance, but vice chairman John Zeiger and secretary/treasurer Morgan Irene were absent.

After everyone identified themselves at the meeting and voting members for the different municipalities were identified, a quorum was established.

The minutes and treasurer's report were approved quickly.

An update of the Specific Purpose (6th penny tax) was given by Joan Evans from George K. Baum and Company.

"I am just really pleased to report that Jon (Nelson), Irene (Archibald) and others have been working really hard on all the materials and a plan, and social media and everything to get out and disseminate the information on the policy and advocacy side of the campaign," Evans said. "The yard signs you have ready to go out from our standpoint, boots on the ground are really mobilized, trying to go out there with a good strategy to reach everyone."

Flyers, posters and signs promoting the 6th penny tax were available for representatives from the municipalities to take some back to their towns when they left.

The letter to the Industrial Siting Council (ISC) was discussed on the merits of sending it versus not sending at the present time.

The letter had pointed out that some members of CCCOG felt the ISC had been harsh in their treatment of municipalities' requests for impact funding. The County Commissioners stance was to not send the letter and see if it was needed after the next ISC meeting.

"I agree with the county commissioners, that there is no sense in tickling the dog when it might bite, especially when things are so fragile already," said Hanna Mayor Lois Buchanan.

CCCOG members agreed with Buchanan and the county commissioners. The letter was put aside.

Larry Hicks, a Republican member of the Wyoming State Senate representing District 11, told the members that the state was in a deficit due to the decline in many of the energy sectors.

"I am the vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee so I have a pretty good idea of where the budget is at. But more importantly, I want to talk about where we just finished and I just want to give you a heads up of what is coming down the tracks," Hick said. "We know from revenue projections that we have, we just passed the supplemental second year biennial that was a little over a $3 billion dollar budget. We borrowed heavily out of our savings account and when we project out the next biennial next January, preparing for the budget in the next two years, we have a structural deficit between $200 and $300 million dollars."

He said education funding for K-12 was half the state's budget. Hicks said cuts to education or tax increases would likely be some of the methods in getting the state's budget balanced.

This past legislature passed no new revenue bills.

House Bill 220, a bill to create a corporate income tax on "big box" stores, passed the Wyoming House of Representatives but died in the Senate.

The Department of Revenue estimated HB-220 would have raised $45 million for Wyoming public schools.

House Bill 233, which would have created a state personal and corporate income tax to fund education also failed to pass.

The legislature also did not pass a Lodging Tax that would have had money going to support tourism in the state–Wyomings second largest industry. $25 million would have gone into the general fund from this tax.

Hicks pointed out going into the State's savings was a potential problem. He said 25 to 30 percent of the State's revenue stream came from interest made in the savings account.

District 47 Representative Jerry Paxton said the education budget is mandated by the state to fund. "There is actually a very narrow margin of what we can actually have control over in education," Paxton said. "We have to hire consultants that go out there and develop a model and we can modify it somewhat, but when we adopt it, we have to fully fund it. Lack of funds cannot be used as an excuse to not fully fund that model. That is a reality." District 15 Representative Donald Burkhart, chairman for a gambling sub-committee, went over the potential benefits of legalized gambling. He said that there were seven or eight off track betting facilities that generate $420 million dollars a year. He said if the legislature legalized sports betting, that would generate $1.2 billion in revenue.

"Pretty much all sports betting has elements of organized crime involved in it, so it is a philosophical thing, do you want to get involved with gambling or not?" Burkhart said. "So the rules pretty much, in the end, said we will take what we have, but we want to control it; so it is bingo, pool tabs, calcutta wagering and poker.

In the end, the bills failed miserably."

Hicks said because the legislature is volunteer and meets for four weeks in budget session, specific problems to communities could not be solved easily. "We aren't going to solve all the problems of Rawlins, Sinclair and Carbon County," Hicks said. "In the small amount of time we are there it just can't be us. There is no legislative solution, it has got to be from the counties and the municipalities. If you come up with some idea, contact your representative, because we are more than willing to try and flesh it and make something work."

The CCCOG members had their frustration of no tax bills passed through the past legislature voiced by the Riverside mayor.

"In spite of the fact that people are not clamoring for new taxes in this day and age as our senator so aptly pointed out to us, I would like to say that we are asking our people to pay more taxes; that is the reason we are here tonight," Leroy Stephenson said. "If the legislature would go to the trouble to educate the people of Wyoming what needs to be done about our tax structure instead of just defeating every damn thing that comes before the legislature, we might be better off today."

The next scheduled CCCOG meeting is at 6:30 p.m. on May 15 in Saratoga.