Fremont County departments grapple with 10% mandate

LANDER — Fremont County prepares for an anticipated $2 million loss in revenue next year, all of its departments – from vehicle maintenance to the library system – have been asked to cut their budgets by 10%.

The county commission has been conducting meetings with department heads to discuss options that would make these cuts possible. The hearings are set to continue until the finalized version of the county budget is due next month.

So far, the budget hearings have sparked a variety of creative suggestions from department heads. Some have remained adamant that their department is already running at maximum efficiency and further cuts would be impossible. Others have made surprising offers, including cuts to their own salary or a willingness to be downgraded to a part time employee.

None of the suggestions or plans discussed in the hearings are set in stone.

As commissioner Michael Jones noted in a recent meeting, the board simply wants department heads to come up with “potential scenarios” that would contribute to the county’s overall efforts to reduce spending.

In addition to cuts, departments have also been asked to identify opportunities to bolster their revenue streams by enacting or increasing fees.

Meanwhile, the commission is extending its ongoing wage and hiring freeze.

Departments cannot hire for open positions or raise an employee’s compensation without first asking the board for an exemption.

Department budget hearings to date

Over the past two weeks, several department heads have informed the commission that cutting 10% from their annual spending is out of the question.

When the public defender’s office couldn’t present a 10% reduction, Assistant Public Defender Valerie Schoneberger noted that “85% of its budget comes from the state, so there’s not a lot of wiggle room” for the lesser portion of funds that it receives from the county.

The building maintenance department couldn’t hit the 10% reduction either.

Presenting a $52,000 cut – less than half of what would be required to hit the 10% goal – County Building Superintendent Mike Meeker outlined his specific budgetary line items including “$100 for postage.”

He suggested a $2,500 reduction in spending for “vacuum cleaners and similar materials.”

In response, commissioner Jones remarked that the buildings department is already operating with a vacant position, and the only way to truly reduce its budget by 10% would be to further downsize its staff.

“That would limit the department’s ability to respond to emergencies,” he said. “It would also reduce the amount of cleaning that we can do in our buildings.”

Head of the Fremont County Library system Anita Marple remarked that in order to achieve the targeted budget reduction, her department will have to ask support groups like Friends of the Riverton Library and the Fremont County Library Foundation for more than $100,000 in extra help.

“We want to preserve the employees that we have and the services that we provide,” she said. “That’s likely going to take further fundraising on our own.”

Some of the options Marple provided to the board included reducing the library’s workforce by one library assistant.

Jones asked for a clearer picture of how that loss would look in practice.

“There would be one less person at the Lander branch. Or 12 less hours of cover per week,” she said.

All of Marple’s budget suggestions aimed to avoid reducing the number of days that the library is open to the public, but Jones suggested that she consider how much money the library could save if it was open for four or five days per week instead of six.

During the Fremont County Emergency Management Agency’s hearing, lead coordinator Milan Vinich proposed reducing his own salary by 10%.

Youth Services Executive Director Cassie Murray offered something similar – changing her own role to contractor status in order to save money.

“When we were asked to cut 10%, there was no 10% to cut,” Murray said. “Every staff position does an integral job. Altering the executive director position to a contract is not ideal, but we simply cannot have any of our programs go away. The community needs them.”

During another hearing, Tara Berg of the assessors office stated that her department would need to cut two full-time positions in order to achieve a 10% reduction of $112,000.

As for increased fees, few departments were able to highlight specific fee hikes that would substantially offset their reduced budgets.

Fremont County Clerk Julie Freese noted that increasing the cost of citizens’ access to online records including deeds, titles, land, and zoning could raise around $40,000 over the course of the fiscal year in her department.

As budget hearings continue over the coming weeks, commissioner Larry Allen pointed out that the 10% goal is a “moving target.”

“[Departments] show us what their options are and what it’s going to affect and this board will have to make the tough and unpopular decisions about what to do,” he said.

County commission meetings take place at 9 a.m. on the first three Tuesdays of every month at the Fremont County Courthouse in Lander. The meetings are available to stream live on Youtube.

This story was published on May 17, 2025.