Tax vote — Mayor seeks path for penny tax vote
The Newcastle City Council has begun laying the groundwork for a possible local option penny sales tax that could appear on the November general election ballot, an effort Mayor Tyrel Owens said is aimed at addressing infrastructure needs while giving voters the final say.
Owens raised the issue during the council’s meeting on Jan. 20, noting that the city is working under a narrow timeline if it wants to pursue what is commonly called a “sixth penny” tax. He said the discussion was prompted by a memo prepared by Beth Blackwell, the city’s grants and loans specialist, outlining how such a tax could be structured and the steps required to place it before voters.
“So, it was a scramble today and our grant writer, Beth Blackwell, produced us a report and a memo in regard to the penny tax,” Owens said. “It came out this morning, and unfortunately I haven’t had a lot of time to scrutinize what’s written here.”
According to Blackwell’s memo, Wyoming law allows counties and municipalities to seek voter approval for local option sales taxes beyond the state’s 4% rate, but local governments cannot impose those taxes on their own authority. Any additional penny must be approved by voters and coordinated at the county level.
“Local option taxes are a significant source of revenue for nearly all counties and municipalities. However, local elected officials cannot self-impose them. Instead, local option taxes require voter approval,” the 2025-2026 Weston County Commissioner’s Handbook says, according to Blackwell’s memo.
Blackwell outlined three types of local option sales taxes allowed under state statute: a general purpose tax, a specific purpose tax — often called the sixth penny — and an economic development tax. The sixth penny is a specific purpose sales tax that can only be used for projects listed on the ballot and ends automatically once the approved dollar amount is collected or the specified time period expires, the information from Blackwell says.
Owens told the council that the town of Upton has already expressed interest in moving forward with a penny tax in some form, making coordination with Weston County commissioners a necessary next step.
“We’re going to have to figure out what we’d like to get on the ballot before the board of county commissioners,” Owens said. “I am looking at trying to get on the commissioners’ agenda the second meeting in February so that we can talk about this.”
Per the commissioners meeting schedule, that meeting is on Feb. 17.
Under state law, a sixth-penny tax can be placed on the ballot either through a voter petition signed by at least 5% of county voters or through a resolution approved by the county government and two-thirds of the cities and towns within the county.
Blackwell’s memo notes that coordination between Newcastle, Upton and the county would be required to move the process forward.
A council member suggested delaying any formal action until members have time to review Blackwell’s materials and determine what proposal, if any, they want to bring to the commissioners. Owens agreed, saying the council would revisit the issue at its first meeting in February.
“The council would be willing to entertain a motion to send me before the board of county commissioners to discuss it with them and try to get it on the ballot,” Owens said. “But we’ll revisit this at the next meeting.”
Owens said Blackwell’s report lays out the distinctions between the fifth penny, sixth penny and general state sales tax, and explains that sixth-penny revenue is typically used for capital projects such as streets, utilities, public safety facilities and community infrastructure — projects that often cannot be funded through operating budgets alone.
Blackwell’s memo emphasizes that sixth-penny taxes are commonly used across Wyoming to fund non-revenue-producing capital projects without taking on long-term debt. Unlike bonds, the tax sunsets once the approved amount is collected and cannot be used for general operating expenses unless those costs are specifically listed on the ballot.
“If it is determined to go after the special purpose tax, aka 6th penny, projects will have to be identified, and costs determined to calculate the dollar amount that will need to be collected and thus put on the ballot,” Blackwell’s memo says.
Public comment during the meeting included opposition from resident Karl Lacey, who said he does not support any additional taxes and questioned whether the city should pursue a penny tax at all.
“Anyway, I’m opposed to that tax. I’m opposed to any more taxes; you pay enough.”
He noted there are other opportunities to raise funds for projects.
Lacey cited past community-led fund-raising efforts, including improvements at Dow Park, as examples of projects completed without additional tax revenue. He also questioned whether government should be responsible for funding recreational amenities. Owens said that he has seen sixth-penny taxes work successfully in other Wyoming communities and stressed that the tax would only move forward if approved by voters.
“One of the good things is, uh, it goes on the ballot so you can vote against it,” Owens said. “... We’re putting it in the citizens’ hands. So if everybody votes against it, we don’t get the penny tax and then nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
Blackwell’s memo also highlights that residents are not the only ones who pay a local option sales tax. Because the tax is applied to taxable goods and services, visitors and tourists contribute as well — a point Owens echoed during the discussion.
“We lean on our local businesses pretty heavily for a lot of different things,” Owens said. “This spreads it out across the people in our county.”
Owens said that residents frequently raise concerns about aging streets and infrastructure and that a penny tax could help address those issues if voters choose to support it.
“If leveraging a few pennies through the penny tax gets a street paved or gets some of our infrastructure fixed, then so be it,” he said. “I think that’s a positive use of the money.”