People are leaving Wyoming at one of the highest rates in the country. This week, state lawmakers didn’t move forward one proposal to fix that.
Wyoming Business Council CEO Josh Dorrell spoke to the Legislature’s interim Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development committee on July 29 about what he calls Wyoming’s “chicken or the egg” problem.
“We don’t have enough people to attract the jobs and we don't have enough jobs to attract the people,” Dorrell said to the 13 committee lawmakers.
He said if communities can’t grow, they could eventually just disappear. But, time and time again, he said he’s hearing from communities that they simply can’t afford the growth.
“If you grow in the number of people in your community, you can’t pay for that growth on your own,” Dorrell said. “That doesn't matter if you're in Cheyenne or if you’re in Buford. It’s the same.”
Ideally, Dorrell said that’s where the business council can step in to help foster that growth. Previously, that looked like specific projects, like community centers.
“But it wasn't necessarily an economic driver,” he said. “This money has been put into communities for assets that don't necessarily or may not necessarily change the economic outlook of those communities.”
Starting in about 2020, he said the state agency has focused more on funding projects that have a wider scope, like water and sewer infrastructure. Dorrell said these types of projects can essentially “unlock” growth, as once basic infrastructure is in place, “businesses can come in.”
He pointed to a project in Evansville where the business council funded a $8.9 million grant for building out sewer and water infrastructure. That project supported the expansion plans for Mesa Natural Gas Solutions, which after its completion in 2026 will hire 200 additional people, according to Oil City News reporting.
Dorrell said despite the business council’s shift in which projects to fund, many communities’ growth has still stalled. Wyoming continues to see some of the highest rates in the country of young people leaving the state.
He thinks educating communities on how to identify those problems is one fix, adding that sometimes manpower and time is more helpful than dollars. But he also said he thinks communities actually need a little more skin in the game. He floated the idea of a 25% minimum match for any business council grant. Currently there isn’t a blanket minimum.
“It doesn't guarantee success, but it's a much better chance of succeeding when the local community is behind it and they have skin in the game,” Dorrell said.
He said they put the proposal out to the public and received unprecedented feedback, with 50 responses. Typically the business council will get one or two comments on a potential rule change, he said.
The consensus from communities is they can’t afford that kind of match.
“Imagine as an investor if you put in a dollar and someone else put in three. Seems like a pretty good opportunity, right?,” he said. “But if you don't have that dollar to put in, it doesn't matter. And so then you got to ask yourself, ‘Why don't we have that dollar to put in?’ Why don't our local communities have the capacity to fund a quarter of the projects they want to do that will remove those barriers to growth and allow them to grow?”
Dorrell said that’s for the governor and Legislature to solve. And despite the community pushback, he still requested lawmakers move forward a draft bill that’d codify the 25% match.
Lawmakers declined to move the draft bill forward, echoing the sentiment that small towns can’t afford it.
Some of the business council’s project proposals will be discussed at an upcoming board meeting in Sheridan Sept. 10. Dorrell extended an invite to the committee lawmakers.
