When the Rock Springs City Council approved a slimmed down budget earlier this month, Kayla McDonald knew, “My position was no longer funded.”

McDonald heads up the Sweetwater Economic Development Coalition (SEDC), which helps new and growing businesses get off the ground. The group is the latest casualty of local government budget cuts spurred by the Legislature this year.

“The way property taxes and mineral taxes are just coming in, they don't have the means to be able to fund it,” she said. “As of June 30, I will no longer be a part of the Economic Development Coalition,” she said.

Over the last few years, there’s been a suite of measures passed by the Legislature to cut property taxes for residential, commercial and industrial uses. For example, this past legislative session, lawmakers passed a bill that cut residential property tax evaluations by 25%.

In response, cities, towns, counties and special districts have been taking a hard look at budgets to make up for the shortfall in revenue. That’s led to cuts to government-funded programs, like the Sweetwater Economic Development Coalition.

Sweetwater Now, an online news site, reports the Rock Springs City Council made these cuts because of lower tax revenues.

During her 11 years with the group, McDonald organized workshops on how to start a small business, gathered resources for local entrepreneurs and brought a new firearms manufacturing company to the area.

“We've been the catalyst,” she said. “We've been that voice for industry when they're like, ‘Hey, how do we do x? Where do we go?’” McDonald said.

McDonald is the sole employee and will close the doors on the coalition in a couple weeks.

She said others might try to keep it going as a nonprofit.