Millions missing — County approves $11.8 million budget, $8 million less than last year

The Board of Weston County Commissioners approved a budget on July 15 that totals $11,898,995.73, a $8,282,992.75 decrease from last year’s budget of $20,181,988.48, but county officials aren’t bragging about the 40 percent decrease. No explanation on the anomaly was given during the county’s public hearing for the budget or before it was approved by a unanimous vote of the commission. Multiple emails requesting clarification on the decrease were sent to all five commissioners and Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock beginning last week, but none of those officials responded prior to this newspaper going to press. 

Comparisons of the budget published by Hadlock and one approved a year ago indicates that the major difference between those budgets is a $8,061,798.11 decrease in total cash available. 

Last year, the county budget showed a total of $12,801,121.93 in the line item showing total cash available for the budget. For fiscal year 2026, which started on July 1, the budget shows only $4,739,323.82 in cash available for the budget. 

It was revealed in early budget discussions that the county has well over $12 million in various investment accounts, some reportedly earmarked for various expenditures, but the News Letter Journal was unable to locate where the county’s $12.4 million in investments is noted in the budget. 

When the newspaper reported on the existence of those investment funds in May (scan QR code above to read story), the commissioners told the NLJ that the funds were included in the budget. The investments include $7,994,157.72 in money markets at First Northern Bank, $579,284.31 in a certificate of deposit account at FirsTier Bank in Upton and $219,489.20 in savings at Pinnacle Bank, as detailed in NLJ’s previous story.

The only comment made about the county’s cash reserve during the budget discussion on June 15 was made by Commissioner Marty Ertman. 

“I’d like to comment on the cash reserve. I mean there’s been a lot of discussion about our finances and $3.3 million seems like a lot of money, but last month’s bills alone were $1.5 million. So, I’d like for everybody to just be aware that it’s not a lot of money in the big scheme of things,” Ertman said. “So, I think it’s important that we maintain a healthy something to fall back on.” 

Budget breakdown

While the cash available for the budget dropped drastically, the budget shows that the county anticipates $5,090,346.12 in estimated revenue, which is actually an increase of $43,740.63 from the previous year. However, the estimated total cash and revenue is listed to be $9,829,669.94 for fiscal 2026, a decrease of $8,018,057.48. 

The request from tax levy, according to the budget, totaled $2,069,325.79 for 12 mills, a decrease of $264,935.27 from last year. 

For reserve accounts, the county shows no change in the amounts in cash reserve, depreciation reserve and capital improvements. The county road fund reserve increased by $691,709.23, the fuel reserve increased by $8,357.30, and the county added a line item with $100,000 listed as road construction blade reserve. 

Although the total amount budgeted for county operations in the coming year indicate a drastic decrease in total requirements for the county budget, line items listed in the budget changed very little. 

The largest decrease was seen in the “other county accounts” line item. According to the budgets, the other county accounts total $5,257,369.43 for the current year, which is a $944,133.16 decrease from the previous budget. 

A breakdown of the other county accounts actually shows increases in several line items, including $50,000 for insurance, now totaling $250,000; a $279,474.58 increase in health insurance costs to total $1,254,953.26; a $41,899.92 increase in financial administration to total $184,500; a $124,500 increase in the courthouse preservation line item to total $134,500; and a $110,000 increase to the retirement line item to total $660,000. 

The total for the items listed in this section of the budget is listed as $4,347,316.88 for the current fiscal year, an increase of $1,390,592.51 from the previous year. 

The decrease seen in the other county accounts came from decreases in several grant line items including a decrease of $136,794.17 to the public health grant line item that now totals $155,802.25; a decrease of $140,525.37 in a federal mineral royalty grant line item that was removed from the budget; and a decrease of $2,174,537.22 in American Rescue Plan Act monies to take that total down to $176,639.57.

For this year, grants listed in the other county accounts total $636,255.85, a decrease of $2,345,778.17 from last year. 

Also included in the other county accounts line item are the funds provided through the additional 1% sales tax. The total for these line items increased by $11,052.50 to total $273,796.70. 

A majority of the line items saw no change from the previous year. Line items that did increase included Newcastle Ambulance (by $1,552.50 to $32,602.50) and the public defender (from a budget of $0 to $21,000). The county also created a line item for food distribution totaling $2,000.

Line items that decreased in the additional 1% section included the removal of both the Upton Landfill ($7,500 in FY2025) and WyoHelp ($6,000 in FY2025).

Looking at other general fund requirements, most line items received small reductions to their budget, including a $900 cut to the clerk’s budget to total $201,201.96 for the current year; an $1,800 cut to the assessor’s line item to total $207,276.91; and a $1,862.60 cut to the county attorney’s line item to total $268,816.08. 

More significant decreases were seen in the district court line item, with a decrease of $21,500 to total $223,829.28; a $110,253.16 decrease to the prevention management block allocation; and a $50,000 decrease to the county library block allocation. 

Accounts that saw significant increases in their budget were the courthouse with an increase of $454,000 to total $654,000; and road and bridge with an increase of $191,434.14 to total $1,659,577.67. 

The largest line items in the general fund requirements include the other accounts line item, road and bridge, the courthouse,  the Weston County Sheriff at $661,124.80, law enforcement complex at $572,244.08, county road fund projects at $500,000 and dispatch at $304,420.00.

Transparency talk

Despite the lack of information or explanation about the budget they approved, Ertman did say later in the July 15 meeting, during a discussion about the budget for the Weston County Fairgrounds, that the county has a budget and that “the idea of a budget is it’s transparent. You see what’s going on. So when you have extra money tucked away, the public can’t see what that money is being spent on. They just can’t. And so what we’re trying to do is keep it back in the place where the public can see where the money, where their tax dollars, are, ‘cause we always hear about that.” 

Ertman was specifically referring to budget amendments and her disdain for them after the county passed 17 budget amendment resolutions between the fiscal 2025 budget approval on July 16, 2024, and the end of the fiscal year on June 30 of this year. 

According to the resolutions pulled by the News Letter Journal, budget amendments totaled more than $2 million and included amendments for unanticipated revenue and the addition of funds to several line items, including line items for the jail, road and bridge and district court. 

Before budget approval, Ertman told the board that she would like a memo included with the budget telling department heads that any potential overage of line items need to be communicated with the board before the money is spent. 

Editor’s Note: Full details on the budget are usually available on the Weston County website but the resolution posted by Hadlock appears to be missing a page. The budget has not been posted with the previous budgets as of press time either. 

Commission clips

Notes from the July 15, 2025, meeting of the Weston County Commissioners

The board approved Chairman Nathan Todd’s signature on the Supplemental Agreement Among the Wyoming Transportation Commissioner, Weston County and BNSF Railway Company for the construction and maintenance of a new viaduct in the county on old Highway 85. The board noted that this agreement includes flagging for the bridge replacement on Old Highway 85. 

The board approved nine 24-hour alcoholic beverage sale permits for Mason Kaiser, doing business as the Weston County Fairgrounds for the Weston County Fair, July 26 through Aug. 3. Commissioner Marty Ertman voted against the motion, stating that she is not comfortable with the sale of alcoholic beverages at the Weston County Junior Rodeo on the dates included in the permits. 

The board approved the transfer of the liquor license for Pizza Barn - Pam Gualtieri to the new owners of the Pizza Barn. 

The board approved 11 24-hour alcohol sale permits for Jessica Lundgren who will have a beer tent at four corners during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. 

Dru Palmer with Dru Consulting gave an update on the Newcastle Bureau of Land Management Resource Management Plan revision, Black Hills National Forest Plan revision, the Thunder Basin National Grasslands and the Greater Sage-Grouse Environmental Impact Statement.