Our local politicians claim that if we citizens pass Proposition One, the residential property tax break ballot question, all kinds of basic services would need to be put “on the chopping block.”
For the City of Casper, the adjustment to revenue will be just around $1.2 million in Fiscal Year 2028. Revenue to the City’s General Fund alone is over $50 million each year. So, our residential property tax break would represent a small part of this fund’s sources of revenue.
The irony is that the City owns a significant number of properties that are not part of the city’s operations. As such, these properties are exempt from property taxes.
Examples are a museum which only pays the city $10 per year for 40 years on its lease and a sports complex that only pays $1 per year to the city for the land that their facility sits on. Hardly a “return on investments” for the hardworking taxpayers.
Since these organizations serve non-profits like schools, the payments made for their services are exempt from sales tax as well. So, there is little to no revenue stream to benefit the community for these special deals.
The deeper revenue loss is related to “public housing.” The city is listed as the owner of several apartment complexes. However, less than one percent is listed as “owned” by the city and more than 99% is listed as owned by out-of-state and foreign investors. These properties generate no property tax revenue to the city or county. These special deals benefit outside interests at the expense of our citizens who are forced to pay the costs for services provided to these corporations.
All of these special arrangements need to be investigated and corrected.
Compare the cost all of these special deals that could be ended to the help Proposition One will bring for our homeowners struggling financially.
~ Ross
