Casper Council Hears Results of 1 Cent Survey

At the Casper City Council meeting on Tuesday, the council heard about the results of a survey on how the community feels about reauthorizing one-cent funding.

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The survey, which had 704 responses, higher than the goal of 500, showed that 76% of registered voters in Natrona County are very likely or somewhat likely to vote to reauthorize the one-cent tax.

This is also in line with previous years, where approval in surveys was around 80% in 2010, 2014, and 2018, with that approval also translating to votes, with a 73% very likely or somewhat likely to vote in favor in 2018, compared to the final vote of 77% in November of that year in favor.

Pete Meyers, assistant financial services director for the city of Casper, said that while he can't say for sure if the funding will pass this year, the survey results are a positive indication that the one-cent funds will be renewed this year.

The survey also included information on what priorities people have for allocating the one-cent funding, which had street repairs as the most popular, with 91% saying it's very important or just important, followed by water and sewer at 84%, fire EMS at 78%, and drain and flood prevention at 77%.

Councilmember Bruce Knell said that he had gotten an email from a constituent about why they only asked voters, which Knell said was an unnecessary question, as registered voters are the only people who will decide whether to renew the one-cent funding or not.

While the council did not take any immediate action, city manager Carter Napier said that he would return at the meeting on June 28 with a proposal to the council for what path they can take moving forward.

What that might look like is unclear at this time, but Napier said that it would probably be similar to what was done last year, with a website put out with information for the public.