County Commission Eyes Potential Effects Of Oil Price Slide

The recent dramatic slide in oil prices, with the ripple effects on the rest of the state and local economies, has the attention of the Natrona County Commission, its chairman said.

"It's something is of course we will be looking at pretty carefully when it comes to budget time," Forrest Chadwick said.

"We'd rather be conservative than to get ourselves in trouble," Chadwick said.

Natrona County is in good fiscal shape, he said. "We had a lot of our departments that have not overspent, (and) have practiced keeping within their budget."

Eight of the top 10 taxpayers in Natrona County in 2012-2013 were petroleum related companies, according to county treasurer data from 2013. Their total property tax valuation amounted to about $446 million, or 35.5 percent of the total county's valuation.

Even if oil prices stay depressed, Chadwick said a decline in overall county revenues won't happen soon other than a possible slight decline in sales tax revenues as people trim their spending.

Natural gas prices won't affect the county because those prices have been depressed for a while, he said.

The greater and more immediate effects on the county's budget will come from what happens on a state level with the decisions the Legislature makes, Chadwick said.

"It's one of those situations where we have very little to no control," he said. "So who knows, this could be the time where those rainy-day accounts become important to us, and we'll be glad that we've got them."