In the coming days, local residents will be surveyed on what they think about raising Park County’s sales tax from 4 to 5 percent.

Last week, local government officials got a possible sneak peek of public opinion — getting an earful from a few dozen residents who weighed in at a lively county commission meeting.

A majority of those who spoke or muttered appeared unwilling to pay more taxes and called for local government to focus on cutting back.

“I don’t want you to have any more of my money,” said Phil Campbell of Wapiti, one of 19 citizens who spoke against the prospect of a new tax. “I don’t want government to have any more control over me.”

About a dozen others said raising the sales tax — which collects from tourists as well as locals — may be the best way to maintain current services amid declining revenues.

“Don’t get caught up in all this hubbub and emotion of, ‘I hate the 1 cent tax.’ This is not about that,” said Forward Cody CEO James Klessens. “It’s about what infrastructure we need and how can we possibly make it happen.”

Park County, the cities of Powell and Cody and the town of Meeteetse decided to send out the survey and split its roughly $15,500 cost almost eight months ago. A task force of officials from those entities has been working to finalize the wording. The survey’s aimed at figuring out if there are any circumstances under which county voters would pass a fifth cent on sales tax.

Park County Commission Chairman Tim French — a vocal opponent of the tax and of a survey — organized and ran last week’s meeting. He called it an opportunity for the government to hear pros and cons.

“I think why people are not happy and they’re showing up is there was $15,500 of public funds spent on essentially people that are for the tax. I mean, you can’t get around that, I don’t think,” French told the packed courthouse room, after Cody Mayor Nancy Tia Brown explained the survey.  “So, that’s why people want to speak up.”

“Sir, I think that’s why you want these people to speak up,” Mayor Brown shot back. “And that is why we’re here.”

French’s ardent opposition to this tax proposal — and one that failed in 2012 — hasn’t sat well with some of his fellow elected officials.

Brown called the March 1 meeting “a bit premature,” noting that the survey hadn’t even been finalized. She encouraged all of those present to fill out eventual surveys.

That the local governments haven’t decided how they would use the new tax dollars “disturbed” speaker Bill Tallen of Wapiti.

“This sounds like a, ‘let’s approve a tax and then figure out what we need to spend it on,’” Tallen said of the survey. “If that’s necessary, then why are we even talking about this?”

Like many other speakers, he called for cutting government.

“I don’t see the local jurisdictions or the county itself doing a good job of reducing spending,” Tallen said.

Scott Weber, who owns a gun store in downtown Cody, echoed that “cost cutting is first.”

“That’s what we do,” he said. “We don’t put taxes on. That’s Obama-ish.”

Weber also expressed concern that raising the tax would hurt every downtown business.

From his business in another state, “I found that that 5 percent sales tax is really the magic number. That’s when people will go to the Internet instead of shopping locally,” Weber said, noting that Billings is also nearby.

William Struemke of Cody said he’d be one of those who’d shop elsewhere.

“I’d drive to Billings. I don’t care. I mean, there’s no (sales) taxes up there,” said Struemke, who sits on the Cody school board with Weber. “It’s an hour drive and I’ll get Red Lobster or something. ... I don’t need to do it here.”

However, Bob Brown, the mayor’s husband, countered that he did not lose any customers from his downtown Cody art gallery when the tax was temporarily hiked to 5 percent years ago.

“That extra penny did not drive away any of my business,” Bob Brown said. If people are driving to Billings to save the additional 1 percent, “you might want to consider the cost of gasoline, wear and tear on your car and everything else,” he said.

The fact that as much as 30 percent of sales tax is paid by tourists also remains a selling point.

“I understand that we don’t want to pay it ourselves, but here we’ve got the opportunity to get a 30 percent premium on the money that we invest from people who aren’t here and that’s a pretty big number to leave on the table,” said Bruce Eldredge, the CEO of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center.

He and others pitched the fifth cent as a way to “pay it forward” by taking care of government services now instead of letting the burden fall to a future generation.

While not necessarily endorsing the idea of the new tax, Keith Dahlem of Wapiti encouraged people to ask, “What is the best way to fund things?”

“Are they going to put a state income tax on or are they going to put a higher property tax? And those are things that the voters need to think about,” Dahlem said. “What’s the best way to fund it if we’re ... short of this money from the state because of the mineral industry?”

Others saw the down times as a reason not to seek more taxes.

“This is a terrible time to ask me for one more penny, because I am already stretched to, past the limit,” said Irene Potter of Cody.

Attendees offered some suggestions for cutting back.

Fred Howard of Cody said the county should trim its personnel, including dropping the number of commissioners from five to three.

“Every single department is inflated with people that are the highest cost for the taxpayers of this county,” Howard said.

Roger Easum of Powell suggested the city of Powell and the county get more use out of their heavy equipment before buying new. Cody’s Judy Frisby said county employees should have to pay money toward their insurance premiums. Vince Vanata criticized the city of Cody for helping subsidize its rec center and for pursuing an all-inclusive playground.

“Now is not the time to consider nice-to-have things,” he said.

Jake Dillinger of rural Powell, meanwhile, said the county shouldn’t have spent thousands of federal dollars to add yellow centerlines to its higher-risk roads.

“If people aren’t smart enough to know where the middle of the road is, I don’t think painting a line is going to help,” he said.

When Commissioner Joe Tilden said studies have shown the lines reduce the number of crashes, Dillinger responded that “figures don’t lie, but liars figure.”

That was part of a generally harsh tone toward local government.

“Several of you here have been unfaithful stewards of the money entrusted to you,” said Andris Vaskis of Powell. He noted a proposal to hike the tax failed in 2012.

“Pay attention. We don’t want it,” Vaskis said.

Richard George, of the Heart Mountain area, suggested local officials would be abandoning the Republican Party platform and imitating the Washington, D.C., “establishment” if they endorse a new tax.

“The truth is, are you establishment at the local level? Will you listen to the constituents?” George asked.

“Yes, we will,” responded Cody City Councilman Donny Anderson.

“You will, Donny?” said George. “I’ve heard a lot of people say you won’t.”

Sometime later, Anderson sarcastically offered that, “they apparently don’t want to elect smart, honest people because they elect people like us.”

Councilman Steve Miller said that despite the “bashing,” Frisby was the only one who’d actually attended the city’s budget meetings.

“But yet all you guys, everybody in the room here, sits there and says, ‘Well, you spend money irresponsibly,’” Miller said. “Well, how would you know?”

Klessens, of Forward Cody, also came to the officials’ defense.

“There’s a reason that all of the people behind me are not on the ballot; (it) is because none of us wants your jobs,” he told the elected officials, adding to the crowd, “participate in the process or be quiet.”

Cody City Administrator Barry Cook said the local governments hope to send out the finalized surveys late next week. They’ll be mailed to all the households with registered voters — a total of about 6,400 residences, Cook said.

Editor's note: The original version of this story misquoted Vince Vanata as faulting the city of Cody for pursuing a possible beach at Beck Lake. Vanata actually faulted the Shoshone Recreation District, which was the entity that had proposed the possible beach. The beach was not a city project.