Wyoming Towns Push Lawmakers for Steady Slice of Sales Tax Pie

Wyoming’s cities and counties are once again pressing state lawmakers to give them a more reliable share of sales tax revenues — and this time, they want it written into law, Gillette News Record reports.

Right now, sales and use taxes in Wyoming sit at 4% statewide, with local governments allowed to tack on up to 2%. That money goes into the state pot, where about 69% fuels the state’s general fund, while 31% trickles back to towns and counties through what’s called “direct distribution.”

For smaller and rural communities, those checks from Cheyenne are lifelines. But there’s a catch — lawmakers revisit the system every two years, leaving towns uncertain about how much they’ll actually get.

At a legislative meeting this week in Dubois, local leaders and associations pitched a fix: keep the current split but permanently carve out 8% of the state’s share for direct distribution. Based on 2024’s collections, that would mean roughly $77 million flowing to local governments — without raising taxes.

“Wyoming municipalities are very dependent on sales and use tax revenues,” said Ashley Harpstreith, executive director of the Wyoming Association of Municipalities. “This really moves us to a stable tax structure for local governments.”

Dubois Mayor Patricia Neveaux gave a real-world example. Her town just received $97,000 in direct distribution funds — money that’s helping cover basics like heating, sidewalks, and community center upgrades after property tax cuts gutted the town’s budget.

Across the state, many towns are scrambling to replace revenue lost to recent property tax breaks, including a 50% exemption for longtime homeowners and a 25% exemption on the first $1 million of a home’s value.

The proposal isn’t without questions. Some lawmakers worry that locking in the formula could tie their hands, while others see it as simple efficiency. Don Richards of the Legislative Service Office noted that Wyoming sales tax revenues rarely decline year-over-year, making the system relatively stable.

For now, lawmakers didn’t request a draft bill — but they signaled they want to keep the conversation alive, with the goal of hammering out a proposal before the Legislature’s budget session in February.

As Harpstreith put it, towns just want a steady, predictable share of the pie:

“We’re ready to continue to share in the state’s economic cycle on a local level.”