Understanding the 6th Penny: More Than a Line on the Ballot
- hollingsheadforcom
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
With the August 18 primary election approaching, Laramie County voters have a lot to sort through. Fourteen separate Sixth Penny propositions will appear on the ballot, covering infrastructure, public safety, emergency response, utilities, parks and community facilities.
Ballot language can tell us the name of a project and how much it will cost. What it cannot always explain in a few lines is why the project is needed, what problem it would solve, or what could happen if nothing is done.
That is why it was good to see people stopping by the Laramie County Library Monday evening for the 6th Penny Project Open House.
The library set up tables where residents could move from one project to another, look over the information and ask questions directly. Representatives from many different organizations participated, including local fire departments, the Town of Burns, the Combined Communications Center, the library and the City of Cheyenne. Those were only a few of the groups that took the time to be there.
Several residents asked me questions about the different propositions, including Proposition 9. One important point is that Proposition 9 is not limited to one project. It requests a total of $7,973,364 for five public-safety projects:
$1.25 million to replace the 911 telephone and call-handling system at the Laramie County Combined Communications Center
$1 million for additional outdoor warning sirens and maintenance of the existing system
$75,000 for EMS equipment and communication radios in Pine Bluffs
$625,000 for an ambulance for the Town of Albin
$5,023,364 to replace three aging Cheyenne Fire Rescue vehicles
A Closer Look at the 911 Request
The emergency telephone system at the Combined Communications Center is nearing the end of its service life. It has experienced service interruptions, malfunctions and outages. Our dispatchers have continued serving the public by using backup procedures when problems occurred, but those procedures are not a long-term replacement for a dependable primary system.
The existing system also has limitations that make it difficult to support emerging Next Generation 911 technology, modern mapping tools and other public-safety upgrades.
The proposed replacement would provide greater reliability and redundancy, improved cybersecurity and better caller-location capabilities. It would also allow dispatchers to operate from a backup site if the primary communications center could not be used during an emergency.
Most of us do not spend much time thinking about the technology behind a 911 call—and hopefully, we never need to. But when someone is facing a medical emergency, a fire or a dangerous situation, that call needs to go through and the dispatcher needs dependable information to send help.
That is the difference between reading “replace the 911 phone system” on a ballot and understanding what the project would mean for the people who depend on it.
Take Time to Review Each Proposition
Each of the 14 propositions will be decided separately by voters. However, as Proposition 9 demonstrates, one proposition may contain several related projects. It is important to understand everything included before voting yes or no.
The Sixth Penny is a specific-purpose sales and use tax, not a permanent tax. It remains in effect only until enough revenue has been collected to fund the projects approved by voters. Once the authorized total has been collected, the tax expires.
The purpose of sharing this information is not to tell anyone how to vote. People can review the same proposal and reach different conclusions. What matters is that voters understand what they are being asked to decide.
Detailed information about every proposition is available through the following official sources:
Thank you to the Laramie County Library System and all the participating organizations for allowing residents to ask questions and learn more. I encourage everyone to take some time before August 18 to review the propositions and make an informed decision.
We do not all have to agree, but we should understand what we are voting on and why it matters to our community.
