BCR defends property tax ballot initiative

A campaign calling for residential property taxes to be cut by 50% is not just about saving folks money.

The most important aim of the ballot initiative is to make sure Wyomingites aren’t priced out of their own homes, say the three people who launched the campaign, but the secondary goal is about freedom.

Specifically, BCR Voter Initiatives wants to empower the people to take back control of their government affairs and once again have a say in the future of their state.

The campaign has caused controversy, particularly with those responsible for the financial health of Wyoming, as it would cut an estimated $140 million from the state revenue during its first active year.

However, Brent Bien, Richard Weber and Cheryl Aguiar argue that this is a necessary move for citizens facing the prospect of not being able to afford their property taxes – and that some of the concern is based on a misunderstanding of how the initiative would work.

Cutting residential taxes

Critics have expressed alarm that the initiative would cut government revenue from property tax by 50%, but Weber says this is based on a misunderstanding. The exemption would only apply to residential property tax, and has no impact on industrial, commercial, business or agriculture.

“When we chose this ballot initiative, we were limited to a single subject and it was very narrow,” Weber says. “The reason we picked residential was because it had the largest umbrella. Everybody who has a business, a ranch or otherwise has to live in a home.”

Residential represents only a small percentage of the property tax being collected in this county.

“For Crook County, only 7% of residential property tax is being affected,” Weber says.

The actual reduction will be less than half of this at approximately 3% of the county’s total property tax income, Weber says, because some of these homes are not primary residences for the owner.

It translates to about $408,000 from the county budget, which he says is relatively insignificant compared to the extra revenue from recent years of increasing property taxes.

“They’ve had an almost $10 million increase in revenues in the last couple of years, so they’re still going to keep their windfall,” Weber says.

BCR also felt there was significant need for relief in the residential category. Aguiar tells of a subdivision in Teton County that was built in the 1970s as affordable housing; the fair market value for each of those homes is now set and taxed at $3-4 million.

A similar thing is happening now in many parts of the state, she says, including Crook County.

“The people who built Jackson can’t live there any more. They were taxed out and we’re starting to see that [elsewhere],” says Bien.

Criticism of the Initiative

“The people who are against it, if you were to dig, either work for the schools or they work for the government in one way or another and they are protecting their income,” says Aguiar.

Bien comments that even these people, once they sit down and listen to the facts, end up signing the petition. He believes opposition comes from the fear of it being a direct threat to the power base of those who are elected or appointed to government positions.

“Not a single one of them, their argument is fact-based,” Bien says.

Weber says the group has been accused of being reckless in their efforts. This is far from the case, he says; it has been reviewed by attorneys, the Department of Revenue and the Secretary of State.

“Everybody you can imagine has touched this thing…and we used [an existing legislative] bill, so if it’s reckless it’s something they did, not us,” he says wryly.

Another argument against the initiative is, obviously, the loss of $140 million to the state coffers. Weber points out, however, that legislators chose to put $2 billion in savings over the last 13 months.

“If you needed $140 million, why didn’t you hold it back?” asks Weber. “What’s the need?”

What about the impact on the less wealthy counties in the state? Some don’t have a whole lot of industry, acknowledges Weber, such as Washakie.

“Even though they don’t have the income, they’re not as wealthy as the other counties, they’ll get a substantial amount of money from the state when the sales and use tax distribution comes through,” he says. These counties also gain income from the Permanent Minerals Trust Fund, he adds.

Washakie realized about a $4 million windfall from property tax over the last three years, Weber says, so removing a quarter million would still leave them a substantial amount from the recent increases.

“Nobody’s losing any money. All we’re doing is leaving the citizens’ money in their pockets,” he says.

Meanwhile, Aguiar says she heard an argument from a gentleman from Farm Bureau that the lost taxes will just be passed on to agriculture.

“I looked at him and I said, true, that’s 100% possible,” she says. On the other hand, she argues, if legislators were to make that move, voters can elect to choose someone else to represent them.

An exemption is not the only way to tackle the issues with property tax and is perhaps not even the best. An overhaul of the method by which it is calculated would arguably better solve the problems caused by the recent influx of new citizens to Wyoming who have paid above market value for a home.

But fixing that problem is not possible through a ballot initiative, Aguiar explains, because it’s part of the Wyoming Constitution and a ballot initiative can only change statute.

“A ballot initiative is a one-issue-only, very narrow-focused thing,” says Bien.

The legislature is responsible for the way that property tax is calculated and is the only body able to fix it, he says. He believes the current method is unconstitutional, as it is based on unrealized gain; in other words, an increase in value of an asset that has yet to be sold for cash.

“Our Constitution says ‘full value’. The legislature took that and…wrote into statute ‘fair market value’. They need to fix that and they can,” Aguiar says.

Weber says the initiative is about buying time while the root of the problem is addressed.

“Honestly, this ballot initiative is only going to put a band-aid on a symptom. We cannot fix the tax structure, the only way it’s going to get fixed is if the legislature does it,” he says.

Ballot Initiatives

BCR went through several renditions of this ballot initiative, finally settling on an exemption for residential properties; they took a failed bill from this year’s session that was originally sponsored by the Revenue Committee and passed the House before being killed in committee in the Senate. House Bill 98 created an exemption of up to $50,000 or 25% of the fair market value of a primary residence.

“We took a bill that had already gone through the legislative support office and we just modified it – we took out the appropriations, we added a residency requirement and of course we changed the percentage of the actual tax exemption, and we made it general for all the folks,” Bien says.

“…It’s completely un-American to punish people for success and that’s why anybody who’s a resident of this state, anybody who owns a primary home, is eligible for this 50% exemption.”

The final certification was approved in September. Petitions were then distributed all over the state and “captains” in each county took on the task of filling them with names.

Bien says the initiative will do more than reduce residential property taxes. It will force every elected official to take a stand on the issue; with a primary election coming up in August, this will give voters insight into the people out there representing them.

“The only way that the legislature can get this off the ballot, assuming we get the requisite number of signatures by February – and I have no doubt we will – is that they have to pass something and the governor has to sign something that is substantially the same,” Bien says.

The initiative is also about energizing citizens to become involved in their political system, they say.

“It’s the obligation, the duty, the responsibility of the people to assume their rightful role as the governing authority in this state, particularly when our legislature comes to an impasse,” Bien says.

A ballot initiative bypasses both the legislative process and the approval of the governor. This was deliberately introduced by the Founders as a way to empower the citizenry.

“The forefathers anticipated that there would be a time that the legislature would be gridlocked on an important issue or couldn’t get a bill past the governor’s pen on the veto, so they created this citizens’ initiative,” says Weber.

It’s still a deliberative process, he continues, and it’s intentionally tedious. It requires the signatures equal to 15% of total ballots cast in the last general election.

Through this, he says, the Founders intended that, “The people could decide on matters, they could legislate literally through the ballot box in an 18-month process.”

The people are the fourth pillar of government along with the House, the Senate and the governor, Weber says. You can see this clearly in a constitutional amendment, he says: both houses must vote to suggest it, the governor must sign the bill and the people must approve it on the ballot.

“The power has to be in the hands of the people. It has to be for the longevity of this nation,” Bien says.

Future of Property Tax

Do the three hope that this initiative will spur the legislature to action on reforming property tax?

“The short answer is that yes, we do,” Weber says.

Since 2017, residential property taxes have gone up by an average of 87% statewide, Weber says. Aguiar adds that it went up 34% in a single year.

“If this ballot initiative passes into law, the increase in 2026 is still going to go from $533 million to $570 million,” Weber says. Without it, he says, the total will jump to $708 million.

“That’s just completely unsustainable,” says Bien.

The group hopes the legislature meets with success in tackling property tax in February because it would go into law immediately, while the ballot initiative wouldn’t go into effect until 2025.

“It’s way too late, but it’s the only firewall we have if they don’t get something done,” Weber says.

However, says Aguiar, the group has no intention of pulling the initiative even if this happens.

“What happened with the crossover voting was that they passed it but…they’re trying to water it down and dilute it to where it’s not going to stop anybody from doing anything, so we will hold this to the whole 18 months if we have to as leverage,” she says.

Path Ahead

BCR doesn’t care who you are, what beliefs you subscribe to or what your background may be – this initiative is for everyone, Weber says.

“We’re not about politics, this is a nonpartisan initiative. Labels and parties and groups are going to get us in trouble, we have to focus on issues and not fall in love with politicians or make enemies of them or anything like that,” he says.

“We just need to stay on the facts and then we can have a logical discussion about what’s going on.”

The group is confident in its chances of getting the initiative passed on next year’s ballot.

“We have the numbers, we have the facts and we will succeed at this,” says Aguiar.

If they’re right, what then? Will they continue the push to empower the people of Wyoming?

“Oh yes we will,” laughs Bien. “We’re just getting started, let me put it that way.”

To find out more, visit Wyoming Voter Initiatives on Facebook or http://www.wyomingballotinitiatives.com. Local petition captains include Jeff and Diana Burian at [email protected] and Dawn Pfeilfe at 307-660-5053.