County is better for business

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ccording to a recent study from a company called Smart Asset, Weston County ranks ninth out of Wyoming’s 23 counties on a list of the best counties in the state for small business owners.

To arrive at that conclusion, the study looked at tax returns from each county to determine the proportion of people in a county with small business income, the reported business income and the amount of tax a potential resident must pay on their income.

The amount of tax was the same for all of the top 10 counties, so the determination on which counties were “best for small business owners” in this particular study came down to only two factors — the percentage of tax returns from each county that showed small business income, and the percentage of the overall income tax in each county that was derived from small businesses.

We certainly don’t argue with the findings of the study, but we think there has to be more to determining how favorable a place is for small businesses than those two factors. So NLJ News Editor Alexis Barker will be using the study as a starting point for a story on the subject, and will be asking business owners in the county and other local experts for their thoughts on the overall health of the business climate in our community.

What do you think is the biggest advantage for small business in Weston County?

What is the biggest disadvantage?

What challenges do small business face here?

How have business owners overcome those challenges?

Do you believe the business climate is better or worse than it was 10 years ago? How about 20?

Are you optimistic about the future of small businesses in Weston County?

Some of these questions aren’t really easy to answer — and some of the answers may not be easy to hear — but Alexis is going to be reaching out and asking them and we want to be sure we don’t miss anybody who is interested in providing their own input or perspective.

So please feel free to email Alexis (reporter@newslj.com)  with your own answers to any or all of these questions, and go ahead and check out the interactive graphs and maps that Smart Asset has produced for their little study. You might find some of it interesting, and we really are interested in hearing what you think.

If nothing else, we hope you enjoy the story when it comes out in a couple of weeks.

As always, thanks for reading and have a great week.