David Northrup

The Wyoming Constitution is our rule and guide, and many of us strive to use it as such.

The Wyoming House of Representatives recently finished the third reading of the budget bill. This bill now will go to conference with the Senate bill where the joint conference committee will hammer out the differences.

So the biggest question out there is did we save money?  The answer is yes, of course we saved funds, but how much? With the installments that went into the Wyoming Permanent Mineral Trust Fund, the School Permanent Land Trust Fund, and all the other trust funds, the House of Representatives has allocated $1,013,958,085 to savings.  Remember, the Wyoming Permanent Mineral Trust Fund is inviolate, and the corpus of the monies in this fund cannot be spent by the Legislature.

The legislation supported by the House of Representatives saved a little over 54% of the total income; in other words, $1.013 billion. Putting money into savings is always a good idea, and getting it to go to work for you and make more money is an added benefit. A little more than 30% of the state's income now comes from interest on this money in these trust accounts.

The next big question is, what about my property taxes? There have been many bills proposed and many bills are moving through the process. Some bills provide a refund for moderate to low income households, with a laundry list of qualifications.

Another bill would have asked for a constitutional amendment to break out houses as a separate taxable component, but that bill failed.

The Wyoming Constitution states that we can only have four percentage points difference between the high and the low in taxes (Article 15, Section 11: Uniformity of assessment required). The current tax rate for houses is 9%. With minerals at 11%, the lowest constitutional tax level that could be allowed on houses is 7%. This would have represented a reduction of 2% overall, or a 22% reduction on the original 9%. It is my hope that at least one of the bills to reduce taxes makes it through both chambers of the Legislature.

There is also a bill that seeks to determine if the original cost of your home can be used as the taxable base, rather than having your home taxed on today’s market value.

A fair and equitable K-12 education is a constitutional right for all Wyoming students. Two bills were presented to the Wyoming Legislature; one dealing with an educational savings account and one regarding charter schools.

The educational savings account bill has constitutional problems. The Wyoming Constitution says that the state cannot give money to individuals; this bill died in the House Education Committee.

The Senate file concerning charter schools has passed the Senate and has crossed over to the House. To date, this Senate file has not been seen by the House education committee.

Wyoming public schools have some of the best NAEP scores in the United States. Our students exceed expectations in reading and math at all levels tested. Thank you to the Wyoming teachers for their dedication and hard work to the education of Wyoming students.

In conclusion, as the House and Senate continue to work bills from the other body, all things are fluid and will keep changing. The last day of this legislative session will be March 3, and the outcomes will be known shortly thereafter as the governor signs bills into law.