Our View: Perhaps a new tax is needed

Money is tight in Sweetwater County.

Budget requests to the county commissioners are encouraged to cut 10 percent from the previous year’s request. Both cities, continuing to feel the sting of declining sales-tax revenues, are looking at more cuts to their 2017-2018 budgets while protecting the employees working for them. Beyond that, there’s the problem of continued maintenance on county and municipal roads throughout Sweetwater County and Green River’s need to build a new sewer treatment facility.

Yes, grants are available for some of the projects local governing bodies will need to complete. However, grants can be competitive, meaning they’re not a guaranteed source of revenue, and with cuts at the state and federal level, the amounts available for grants are likely to decrease as well.

It’s a very tough pill to swallow, but it seems likely we’ll have to initiate another sixth-penny tax to maintain what we have. Beyond that, we’re positive the only way Green River will be able to build a new sewer treatment facility is through the sixth-penny tax. We don’t see any other avenue for it.

What’s more vexing about this situation is when the sixth-penny was initially proposed nearly 10 years ago, it was sold to us as a temporary tax that, once collected, would disappear. The initial tax did that, but a second round was proposed to voters in 2012 and that too was approved, though an option to fund construction for the new Green River Police Department building failed.

The largest concern is if county taxpayers cool on the idea, voting down needed infrastructure projects because they’re either tired of being told “we need this money,” or feel local governments are not living within their means, the people who lose out are the residents. Should another sixth-penny proposition come forward, it will undoubtedly include projects needed throughout the county.

Voters have been put into a position where they have do either decide to live with deteriorating infrastructure or pay a slightly higher fee on goods to ensure maintenance of their basic services. Yes, Wyomingites pay less in taxes than their neighbors. However, it also isn’t hard to see some residents, tired of being asked to increase sales taxes or a mill levy, feeling betrayed because they were told the tax increase wouldn’t be permanent.

We’re sure another sixth-penny tax is needed to maintain and improve infrastructure in Green River and the rest of Sweetwater County, but it might be a tough sell for a growing number of residents.

 

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