Campbell County commissioner criticizes state legislators' property tax bills

GILLETTE — Campbell County Commissioner Scott Clem had choice words for state legislators during a Joint Revenue Committee meeting last Wednesday in Gillette. The lawmakers were meeting to discuss property taxes.

“Do you want to see...your communities...in a state of stability or chaos?” Clem said. “I think we all agree that stable communities are more successful in protecting people’s rights and communities (than ones) that are in chaos.”

It was clear to legislators that Clem was, in part, referring to the mishmash of property tax relief bills recently passed by the Wyoming Legislature. According to Crook County Assessor Dan Thomas, who spoke for the Wyoming County Assessors’ Association during the meeting, those laws have created serious confusion among taxpayers and county assessors in the state.

“A bit of what we’ve done with these property tax relief concepts is that chaos,” said Rep. Tony Locke, R-Casper. “There’s no doubt about it, and we’d be lying if we didn’t admit to that.”

That was in the midst of legislators’ requests for draft bills to cover sweeping property tax changes in the state, including a bill draft requested by Sen. Bob Ide, R-Casper, to repeal the portion of the state’s constitution that allows the Legislature to tax property, and a bill draft requested by Rep. Jayme Lien, R-Casper, to switch to an “acquisition value” property tax system.

Under that system, property taxes would be calculated based on the value of the house when it was first purchased, rather than its current market value.

Committee members, including Sen. Troy McKeown, R-Gillette, argued the switch to an acquisition value-based system would take the instability of the market out of the current property tax system, which has seen property values skyrocket in recent years — particularly in the wake of COVID-19.

McKeown said the chip-away approach of the legislature’s tax relief bills was an inferior method for taking down taxes until total property tax reform, which requires passing constitutional amendments, was possible.

“Most people are looking for a (sales) tax, and some of the incremental stuff we’ve done has been almost kicking the can down the road,” McKeown said. “Well, we’ll take 5% off here, we’ll give a 4% cap there, and we’ve created confusion with it. We haven’t really reformed anything, we’ve just done exemptions, which magically in the constitution are okay.”

But Clem, a former legislator himself, pointed out that the switch to an alternative tax system will have unequal effects on communities throughout Wyoming — another way of fostering “chaos” over stability, he said. 

Property tax pays for local services such as schools, hospitals and fire departments, and it is the state’s largest tax revenue stream, bringing in $2 billion during the 2024 tax revenue, WyoFile reported.

Clem proposed a system where a portion of state sales tax could go to communities severely impacted by the loss of property tax, but he stopped short of discussing the logistics of raising sales taxes enough to make up the difference.

The acquisition-based approach also comes with obvious disparity issues that will have to be ironed out, Clem said, such as properly taxing Campbell County’s generational ranches and recalibrating a property’s value after renovations.

“What happens if you buy your own (home), say, 10 years ago, but now you’re adding on to it, how is that value reset?” he asked. “I’m just raising some questions and things that this committee, that this Legislature, is going to have to deal with.”

This story was published on June 9, 2025.