Recent movement by the Sweetwater County Commissioners in hiring a consulting firm to help with the upcoming specific purpose sales tax push shows lessons were learned from the 2021 general purpose sales tax ballot’s defeat.
We’re not sure hiring a consultant itself is the best use of county money in regards to educating residents about the upcoming special purpose tax initiative, but giving people more opportunity to have their voice heard in these important discussions is something we will always be in favor of.
The fact remains that additional revenue is needed throughout Sweetwater County to address many core infrastructure problems faced in Green River, Rock Springs and the county’s small towns. According to Sweetwater County Commissioner Lauren Schoenfeld, places like Bairoil and Wamsutter face problems that threaten the existence of those communities. If that’s true, additional funding to those places is especially crucial.
One of the greatest benefits to the specific purpose tax is the fact projects are listed on the ballot for public consideration. It’s a complete reversal from the 2021 special tax election where proponents of the tax struggled to communicate why a full-penny general sales tax was needed beyond the phrases “emergency services” and “economic development.”
Our recommendation would be for the communities and the county not to present a large price tag to voters as it would likely lead them to oppose the whole initiative.
For Green River in particular, trust needs to be built back up after the election sign snafu leading up to the special election last year. The Green River Chamber paid for campaign signs using cash from Green River’s municipal government. Despite continued claims from City Administrator Reed Clevenger about the signs being educational, the Green River Star has already shown through published email communications from Schoenfeld that they were intended to be campaign signs. Add the chamber’s refusal to address the issue for several weeks and the situation doesn’t reflect well on two groups that will have an interest in the specific purpose tax’s passage.
Our recommendation for the city and chamber is this: admit the whole thing was handled improperly, apologize to the city’s residents and do more than simply commit to better transparency. Doing so would go a long way in helping promote the tax to residents who may otherwise feel burned by the city and chamber’s actions.
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