Property tax relief available for more Wyoming homeowners

Some lawmakers wish legislature had done more
POWELL — Thousands more Wyoming homeowners can get a break on their property taxes this year, thanks to an expanded tax relief program approved by the Wyoming Legislature. 
In their recent session, lawmakers made significantly more people eligible for the Wyoming Property Tax Refund Program and made the refunds more generous. Park County homeowners can receive as much as $1,140 back. 
 
“It’s just a huge thing for the county,” said Park County Treasurer Barb Poley, who’s working to spread the word about the changes. 
 
County Assessor Pat Meyer said the revamped program will “help a lot of Park County residents.” 
 
To qualify for the relief, homeowners must be fully paid up on their taxes, have lived in their home for at least nine months in 2022 and have resided in Wyoming for at least five years. There are also limits based on the property owner’s income and assets, though they’ve been loosened from prior years. 
 
Under the amended law, the taxpayers’ household income for 2022 must have been no more than $86,400 (or 125% of the state’s median income) and they can’t own more than $150,000 worth of assets per adult in the home; those assets include cash, investments and other real estate, but the value of the home, one car per adult and any retirement accounts don’t count. 
 
In prior years, the cutoff for relief was significantly lower: Homeowners could only qualify if their household income was at or below 75% of median (which would have been $51,400 this year) and they held fewer than $100,000 worth of assets per adult. 
 
The Wyoming Department of Revenue has predicted that close to 6,000 households will receive a refund. That’s nearly double the 3,000 households that received a refund last year and up substantially from 1,400 in 2020. 
 
To receive the cash back, taxpayers must submit an application by June 5. Residents who received a refund last year were automatically sent a new application, but with the criteria expanding, Poley has been trying to get the word out to the newly eligible homeowners. 
 
That’s included visits to the Powell, Cody and Meeteetse senior centers and outreach to civic groups. 
 
Applications can be turned in directly to the Department of Revenue or submitted to the county treasurer’s office. Poley said she and her staff are happy to help Park County residents work through the paperwork and review their eligibility. 
 
“We just want to help everybody we can,” Poley said. 
 
In just the first couple weeks of applications being open, her office received roughly 60 submissions.
 
“From what we can tell, I think 99% of them qualify,” Poley said earlier this month. 
 
Under the new rules, homeowners can get up to 75% of their prior year’s tax payment refunded (up from 50%), but it’s still capped at one-half of the county’s median property tax bill.
 
In Park County, the maximum refund is $1,139.73.  Last year, 285 Park County homeowners received refunds, which averaged around $687. 
 
Across the state, a total of 3,085 homeowners received more than $1.85 million worth of refunds — up substantially from the $752,000 awarded in 2020. 
 
With demand surging even before the program was expanded, state lawmakers added another $4 million in funding.
 
In an April 7 news release, Gov. Mark Gordon praised lawmakers for expanding the program and touted its value. 
 
“We recognize the importance of keeping property taxes low so families can remain in their homes and communities. We are committed to ensuring that this program helps homeowners in need,” Gordon said, adding that targeting the relief “ensures that those who need assistance the most get it without eroding tax revenue from local governments.” 
 
However, some Park County lawmakers had hoped the Legislature would take bolder actions, as property values — and the associated taxes — have soared. Many local homeowners saw their values jump 25%-45% between 2021 and 2022. 
 

 
“The big disappointment, huge disappointment to me is we did not get any property tax relief to anybody,” Sen. Tim French (R-Powell) complained during a legislative forum in Cody last month, adding, “That’s disgusting that didn’t happen.” 
 
Reps. Dalton Banks (R-Cowley) and Rachel Rodriguez-Williams (R-Cody) also expressed disappointment. 
 
“There’s definitely a difference between tax relief and tax reform,” Williams said. “And so I feel, as a conservative, that we really need to look at reform, not relief. Not everybody qualifies for relief.” 
 
More than 20 property tax related bills were considered by the Legislature during the 2023 General Session, including some that would have put a limit on how much a property’s taxes can rise in a single year. But only three bills made it into law. 
 
Beyond the expansion of the relief program, lawmakers passed a bill that will study the possibility of switching to an acquisition-based system of valuation, in which a property’s taxes would be based on what the owner originally paid for the property instead of its current value. 
 
The Legislature also passed a proposed amendment to the Wyoming Constitution. If voters approve it in 2024, the amendment would allow lawmakers to tax residential properties at a lower rate than commercial and agricultural properties. 
 
Residences are currently taxed on 9.5% of their fair market value and the constitutional change would allow lawmakers to drop that figure to as low as 8.5%, Assessor Meyer said. 
 
However, the impact would be minimal, he said, saving the owner of a $300,000 home in Park County about $210 a year. 
 
“I doubt you would even notice it,” Meyer said last month, adding that he thinks limits on taxes are the best solution. 
 
“It’s the only thing that keeps the tax base in other counties yet limits the taxes in counties that are suffering these huge increases due to out of state buyers,” he said. 
 
The Legislature’s Joint Revenue Committee is studying the state’s property tax system and could recommend changes to be considered during the 2024 Budget Session. 
 
“Hopefully, going forward, we’ll be able to get something through,” Rep. Banks said at the forum. 
 
In the meantime, property taxes are set to jump in Park County by double digits again this year.
 
Qualifying residents can apply for a property tax refund as soon as they’ve paid all their taxes from last year — including the second half of their 2022 property taxes. 
 
Poley encourages homeowners to submit their applications ahead of the June 5 deadline to avoid any problems.
 
For more information, visit wptrs.wyo.gov, call the Park County Treasurer’s Office at 307-527-8630 for local assistance or call the Wyoming Department of Revenue at 307-777-7320.
 
This story was published on April 18, 2023.