Quarterly Elected Officials' Dinner April 30, 2025

The quarterly elected officials dinner was held in Pine Bluffs on April 30th. County Assessor Todd Ernst gave a briefing on the 25% decrease in property taxes passed during this year's legislative session. One of the biggest takeaways was the hit to the rural fire districts' budgets, which are funded through mill levies directly tied to property taxes.

From the conversations around the room, each of the Laramie County communities is expected to see a reduction in funding to some degree. Still, as a whole, due to the county's diversified economy, we are better positioned to work through this funding decrease than many of the other counties in the state. Beyond the property tax issue, we were briefed that the City of Cheyenne is looking at annexing the area east of I-25 to exit 2. Additionally, the Clerk of the District Courts office is facing challenges in hiring due to a need to increase wage ranges, which has led to a shortage of qualified applicants for key positions.

The following elected official's dinner will be held on August 20th in Cheyenne.