Prop tax bills await Gov's signature

Five different versions of a property tax relief bill, which passed the Wyoming State Legislature this session and offer substantial savings to the citizens, are on Governor Mark Gordon’s desk as of Tuesday awaiting his signature.

House District 40 Representative Barry Crago said he is not sure which bills the Governor will sign. He may look at how they work together as a group. He has 15 days from Friday to decide.

House Bill 45, sponsored by Crago, proposes to cap the maximum allowable increase in property taxes each year at 4 percent in its final version.

This version of the bill reduced the allowable increase from 5 percent down to 4 percent, he said.

In a previous story by The Sun, he explained the bill this way.

Anything over that 4 percent is exempt from taxation. The purpose of the bill is to make property taxes more affordable for everybody including those on fixed incomes. Residential property taxes have increased by as much as 20, 30, or even 40 percent a year in recent years.

House District 47 Representative Bob Davis said on Monday about the bills. “It’s all in what the Governor will allow.”

Davis said 3 percent would not be enough to keep up with inflation. However, 4 percent keeps Wyoming within the Consumer Price Index and would result in no growth in inflation.

Crago said the counties were “fine with the 4 percent and understood it’s a viable solution they could at least support.”

House Bill 0003, commonly referred to as the Homestead tax relief bill exempts, a long-term property owner from a portion of the tax.

The bill reads, “For residential real property used as a primary residence, if the owner or their spouse is sixty-five (65) years of age or older and the owner or their spouse has paid residential property tax in Wyoming for twenty-five (25) years or more on any residential property, the amount of the exemption shall be fifty percent (50%) of the assessed value of the residential real property.

The bill would go into effect on January 1, 2025 and be repealed on July 1, 2027, as stated in the bill.

“You can only choose one of these five programs [bill exemptions],” Davis said. That restriction is written into the language of the bills.

The other issue is how to fund the counties, special districts and schools—which depend on these revenues—once the reductions go into effect.

Davis said each bill has a way for the state to “backfill” these services by inserting an appropriation, which is an estimate of the amount of money needed to cover the shortfall.

“The kind of relief we need is reform,” he said, referring to a change in the state constitution that has some support, which would allow a fourth class of property taxed at a lower rate than the current one.

Another of the five property tax relief bills that passed the legislature is House Bill 0004, which would expand the qualifications for the property tax refund program, Crago said. This could provide a refund of up to 75 percent of the tax bill for certain individuals.

To qualify, the taxpayer has to meet the asset limitations requirements, he said.

Another of the property tax relief bills is Senate File 54 which, “…establishes a property tax exemption for single family residential structures based on the prior year assessed value; establishing a property tax exemption for land associated with a single family residential structure based on the prior year assessed value.”

Crago said this bill provides a 25 percent tax exemption this year and next year only for all homes in Wyoming.

The last property tax relief bill is Senate File 89, which doubles the annual amount of the Veterans tax exemption from $3,000 to $6,000 of the assessed value.

“I haven’t heard anything on whether the Governor will sign all or any of the bills,” Davis said.