FEBRUARY 28, 2025|
Photo – Tim Salazar discusses SF69 – Courtesy Wyoming Legislative Zoom
A joint committee made up of members of the Wyoming Senate and House have agreed on a property tax relief bill.
Yesterday morning, the Joint Conference Committee, tasked with reviewing Senate File 69, approved the measure for consideration by the full legislature.
Senate File 69, or the Homeowner Property Tax Exemption Bill, has undergone many changes since it was introduced at the beginning of this year’s legislative session. Originally, the measure was set to cut property taxes by 50 percent on all residential homes and associated properties, capping at $1 million of assessed value.
County officials expressed great concern about the impact a 50 percent across-the-board property tax reduction would have on the county’s budget. At the time, the Board of Carbon County Commissioners estimated that Senate File 69 would cost local governments more than $142 million in lost tax revenue over the next three years.
Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken wrote on social media that many of the county’s public service entities already operate on skeleton budgets. If Senate File 69 passed as it was written, Sheriff Bakken wrote that residents could expect to see a significant reduction in services across the county, including the sheriff’s office, the road and bridge department, and fire protection services, resulting in layoffs from the already understaffed departments.
While Senate File 69 was being debated by the Wyoming House of Representatives, Campbell County Republican Ken Clouston introduced an amendment to the bill that would eliminate the statewide 50 percent property tax cut. Instead, Representative Clouston proposed applying a 50 percent tax reduction based on how much a home’s value increased between 2019 and 2024, up to $2 million. The Campbell County representative said his amendment to Senate File 69 will be more equitable to both, counties and homeowners.
During the February 18th Board of Carbon County Commissioners meeting, Commissioner Sue Jones said the amended measure would put undue stress on the county assessor’s office, who would be responsible for calculating the property tax changes.
Commissioner Jones’s concerns were alleviated one week later when state lawmakers threw out Representative Clouston’s amendment. Instead, the House and Senate returned to the state-wide 50 percent residential property tax cut contained in the original bill. However, legislators were still unable to come to a consensus and asked for more time to consider the measure.
On Thursday, a joint legislative committee hammered out the details they will deliver to the full House and Senate. Joint Committee Chairman Senator Tim Salazar began the meeting by saying that Wyoming voters are demanding that the state offer property tax relief and emphasized the importance of passing the bill.
Natrona County Republican Tony Locke read the version of the bill that had already been agreed upon by the House and Senate joint committee the previous week. In its current version, Senate File 69 will provide a 25 percent property tax reduction on all residential homes and land up to $1 million. Representative Locke explained that residents enrolled in the Long-Term Homeowner Tax Exemption Program, which provides a 50% reduction in property taxes for certain homeowners aged 65 or older, are not eligible for the exemptions offered in Senate File 69.
Representative Locke said once passed, the proposed cuts will immediately be applied to residents’ 2025 property tax bills.
After the 2025 tax season, Senate File 69 will change to only apply to homeowners who live in Wyoming for eight months out of the year. Representative Locke said the measure contains provisions for active members of the military. Originally, the bill was set to end after the 2026 tax season. Locke said the current version has no expiration date.
House District 18 Representative Scott Heiner asked to amend the bill to include $15 million of backfill for special districts in the first year. Representative Heiner said special districts, such as hospital and fire protection districts, will be hardest hit by the property tax reduction. With state-provided financial compensation, special districts will have extra time to adapt to the reduced revenue.
Senator Tim Salazar stated since the current version of Senate File 69 reduced the tax cuts from 50 to 25 percent, his branch of the state legislature does not support any form of backfill.
Representative Heiner responded by saying that the tax relief measure is too important to fail and withdrew his backfill request.
With that, the Joint Committee for Senate File 69 unanimously voted to approve the current version of the bill. The measure will now be brought up before both the full Wyoming Senate and House of Representatives in an upcoming session.
Carbon County Commissioner Sue Jones reacted to Thursday’s legislative vote on SF 69, saying “there will be noticeable losses in services in municipalities, counties and special districts throughout the state” if the bill is signed into law by the governor.
