Wyoming voters approve Constitutional amendment creating separate residential tax group

CASPER, Wyo. — Wyoming voters overwhelmingly approved an amendment to the state’s Constitution which allows residential property to be taxed at a rate separate from commercial and corporate properties.

Preliminary results from the Secretary of State’s Office show 92,675 votes for the proposition and 64,510 votes against.

Lawmakers have passed a series of measures in recent years aimed at providing property tax relief as a steady influx of buyers drove up market values. The measures included an expansion of the state’s property tax refund program, new exemptions for veterans and a cap on annual tax assessment increases.

Previously, the Wyoming Constitution mandated a uniform tax rate of 9.5% for all properties other than mineral production and industrial properties, so homeowners paid the same rate as commercial and corporate entities.

With owner-occupied residences now making up their own subclass, the legislature can adjust that 9.5% assessment rate on a property’s assessed value. Some lawmakers have cautioned that this could mean less operating revenue for local governments, including schools.

The budgets for public operations, including the towns, school districts and special districts, are paid for largely in mill levies. A mill is the number of dollars a taxpayer must pay for every $1,000 of assessed value on real estate.

In the Casper tax district, 73.89 total mills are levied. The Natrona County School District gets 32.5 mills. There’s 7.39 for Casper College. Weed and Pest gets 1. Commercial property owners of the Downtown Development Authority have voted to impose an additional 16 mills on themselves to operate.

The county levies 12 mills and Casper, like any town, levies 8. The newly formed Natrona County Senior District levies 1 mill.