‘No magic ball:’ Prop 1’s impact may be hard to measure

Big Horn County officials are worried

Wyoming voters will decide whether to implement another property tax exemption at Tuesday’s General Election. Proposition 1, a citizen-sponsored initiative, would exempt 50% of the assessed value of qualifying primary residences. How the tax relief might affect Big Horn County’s tax-backed services remains to be seen. 

“I don’t have a magic ball,” county assessor Cozette Winters said. “We are adding more exemptions each year, making it difficult to accurately project the financial impact.”

Winters explained that currently there is a 4% property tax cap for residential properties. There is also a Personal Property Tax Exemption for 2026 that exempts the first $75,000 of fair market value of business personal property per person. 

The Homeowners Property Tax Exemption, passed by the state legislature in 2025, was originally applied as a blanket to all residential property, exempting 25% on the first $1 million of primary residences and associated improved land. Single-family structures occupied for eight months of the year qualify. In 2026, homeowners had to apply to continue receiving the exemption. 

The Long-term Homeowner Exemption, first implemented for the 2025 tax season, reduced the taxable value of qualifying residences by 50% for the first $3 million of fair market value and 35 acres of associated improved land. The applicant homeowner or their spouse must have paid property taxes in Wyoming for 25 years and be 65 years of age to qualify. 

The Wyoming Taxpayers Association, which has opposed Prop 1, estimates that Big Horn County alone has lost $2,084,074 in revenue from 2025 tax exemption programs, excluding the Veteran’s Exemption and refund and deferral programs. Should Prop 1 pass, they estimate the county will be down another $1,870,149 in revenue. 

WTA estimates Big Horn County residents utilizing the Long-term Homeowners Exemption and property tax refund program save about $1,244 on average. Property owners who take advantage of the Homeowner’s Property Tax Exemption and refund program can expect around $823 in savings. 

PROP 1 PARTICULARS

To claim the proposed Prop 1 exemption, the homeowner must have been a resident of Wyoming for one year and have lived in the primary residence for six months. It would apply only to the residential dwelling, not any land. There are no requirements for the value of the home, income limits or homeowner age requirements. As written, there is no other source of revenue specified to balance the loss of property tax income. 

Winters expected the Prop 1 measure would require homeowners to apply initially, which leaves another question mark as to how many people would actually seek out the exemption. The proposed tax relief could not be combined with other property tax exemptions. If passed, the Prop 1 exemption would apply to the 2027 tax year and first affect property tax revenue in 2028.  

BIG HORN COUNTY CONCERNS

Big Horn County is one of eight Wyoming “hardship counties,” which levy one mill countywide that brings in less than $300,000 in revenue a year. Each municipality - Basin, Burlington, Byron, Cowley, Deaver, Frannie, Greybull, Lovell and Manderson - also receives some property tax revenue. Commissioner Bruce Jolley explained that the county has been trying to “get skinny” since the 2023-24 budget in anticipation of property tax exemptions, chopping $900,000 that year, $1.3 million the year following, and $1.1 million for the most recent budget. Due to property tax relief in 2025, for which no backfill was provided, county commissioners made budget cuts across the board, notably to the library system, which lost $70,000 - 20% of its budget - and shuttered two libraries, and emergency management, which was cut over 50%. 

Big Horn County has 54 special districts. Services directly supported by property taxes in Big Horn County include fire, hospital, senior service, cemetery and conservation districts. Following a relatively high district valuation in 2023 of $303,496,354, Big Horn County has seen a drop: $276,788,051 in 2024, $259,078,150 in 2025 and $254,950,671 in 2026. 

Jolley reported that the Big Horn County commissioners have repeatedly “begged (legislators) to put a little common sense into this.”

“I think it’s going to be horrible for the county and municipalities,” Jolley said. “We’ve already been cutting for three years; I don’t know where else we cut from here.”

In discussions with the state, Jolley has been told that backfill, possibly in the form of sales tax controlled by the state, will support any property tax revenue losses for the county. A sales tax, Jolley said, would struggle to support the county and municipalities and would not be divvied to districts the way property taxes have been. 

“We’re leaning on big government. Not only with a sales tax are we not going to make it, you’re going to put small business out of business,” Jolley said. He worried it may be a precursor to “the big word: income tax.”

“It’s kind of a pride thing. We should be able to make it on our own. If they’d stop changing things, I think we could.”