Property taxes on the ballot, Constitutional amendment would add fourth property class

BUFFALO — Wyoming voters will soon decide whether to separate residential real property into its own class of property for property tax assessment purposes.

The constitutional amendment is on the general election ballot this November after the Wyoming Legislature, during its 2023 session, passed a joint resolution that now puts the measure to the electorate for a vote. The amendment, if passed, would add a fourth property class and would authorize the Legislature to create a subclass for owner-occupied primary residences.

Amending the Wyoming Constitution to include a more specific property class and subclass would mean that owner-occupied primary residences could be assessed at a different – likely lower – rate from other property within the residential property class, such as vacation homes.

Property tax relief has been an issue at the forefront for legislators who have passed several bills on the topic in their past two sessions.

Since the coronavirus pandemic, Johnson County and Wyoming residents broadly have seen a rise in property taxes, not because of an increased tax rate but because of soaring real estate values.

Assessed valuations on residential property increased by an average of 23% in Johnson County in 2023, according to previous Bulletin reporting. The increase most often impacts those on a fixed income, including senior citizens.

In an op-ed published in the Bulletin after the 2023 general legislative session, Sen. Dave

Kinskey, R-Sheridan, recalled that Senate Joint Resolution 3 passed with a one-vote margin the day before the end of the 2023 session after much deliberation.

“Looking to the future, if the constitutional amendment passes the legislature will, hopefully, adopt residential property tax relief for all taxpayers for owner-occupied primary residences,” he wrote at the time.

Kinskey did not seek reelection this year. Rep. Barry Crago, R-Buffalo, won the Republican primary race for his seat, and Marilyn Connolly won the Republican primary for House District 40. Both Kinskey and Crago voted in favor of the final resolution passed in 2023.

Heading into the interim session this summer, Crago said that while the Joint Revenue Committee would likely deliberate options for property tax relief ahead of the next legislative session, a lot of potential solutions hinge on the result of the constitutional amendment vote.

“It gives us a lot more flexibility on what we can do,” Crago said in an interview at the end of April.

Currently, the Wyoming Constitution includes three property classifications: gross production of minerals and mine products in lieu of taxes on the land where produced; industrial property and all other real and personal property. The third class includes residential property, commercial property, agricultural property and personal property.

The amendment would separate residential property from that group and would allow for the Legislature to take action to create a subclass of residential property for owner-occupied primary residences.

Still, any change in the assessment rate on residential property will be subject to a maximum difference to the industrial property assessment rate, per the Wyoming Constitution. The provision states that the value prescribed for industrial property shall not be more than 40%, nor more than 4 percentage points, higher than the percentage prescribed for all other property other than minerals.

To pass, the ballot measure would need to receive the majority of the total number of ballots cast.

Between 2000 and 2022, 22 constitutional amendments appeared on the ballot in Wyoming during general elections, according to Ballotpedia. Of those, 13 of 22 amendments (59%) were approved, and 9 of 22 amendments (41%) were defeated.

Early voting begins on Oct. 8. Election Day is Nov. 5.

This story was published on October 3, 2024.