Albany County voters will head to the polls on May 5 for a special election that will determine their tax rate for the next several years.
Voters will be answering yes or no to a proposal that would fund a new fire station, road and stormwater infrastructure, a new county administration building, airport upgrades and more.
Albany County residents and visitors pay six cents in sales tax for every dollar spent. The first four pennies are mandated by the state and the fifth cent supports local government operations.
The sixth penny is the specific purpose excise tax (SPET). Sixth pennies are set to run until a predetermined dollar amount has been collected. Once the county hits that figure, it will stop collecting the tax. The community can then choose to start new sixth penny projects or go back to paying just five cents on every dollar.
Since 1989, it’s been up to voters in every Wyoming county whether they want to opt in to SPET. Currently, eight counties, including Albany, do.
Albany County voters last approved a sixth penny SPET in 2018 and its target of nearly $66 million will soon be entirely collected. The 2018 SPET has been put toward a Laramie Fire Department training facility, major street repairs and Laramie Rec Center improvements among other projects.
The proposal on this year's ballot seeks to raise $95 million, which is estimated to take the next 10 -12 years. According to a city of Laramie analysis, the tax would cost the average household about $16 a month.
Local leaders are promoting a ‘yes’ vote
Laramie Mayor Sharon Cumbie is hoping voters will reapprove the tax for Albany County, and has been publicly promoting a yes vote alongside other city councilors.
“This tax has been a consistent tool for local infrastructure development,” Cumbie said, speaking to the local Progressive Voter Alliance on April 20.
The mayor pointed to previous SPET success stories. She said the city’s water infrastructure was in bad shape before the 2010 specific purpose tax vote.
“We were having up to about 150 water breaks per year, and you cannot build a community or expand economic development on a crumbling infrastructure,” Cumbie said. “So we had to take care of it.”
Among other expenses, that year’s list of voter-approved SPET projects earmarked $17 million for a major reconstruction of the water system.
“And we are down to less than 40 breaks per year,” Cumbie said. “That has provided an infrastructure that allows us safety, security and to build toward our future.”
The city government has also produced a video series highlighting the results of previous SPETs.
The special election May 5 will feature the debut of vote centers in Albany County. Voters will be able to vote at any of the following five locations no matter where in the county they currently live:
- Albany County Fairgrounds
- Albany County Public Library
- Laramie Ice and Events Center
- Laramie Municipal Operations Center
- Rock River Town Hall
Albany County will use vote centers again during the primary election in August and the general election in November.
Wyoming counties decide their own taxes
Albany is one of eight counties in Wyoming currently collecting the sixth penny SPET. A ninth, Laramie County, completed its last SPET in March and will ask voters to reapprove the sixth penny tax during this summer’s primary election.
Teton County, one of the eight, collects a seventh penny SPET on top of its sixth penny, while its resort districts collect another two cents on top of the seven.
Most of Wyoming’s counties collect a fifth penny, which is also approved by voters but is used for general government operations.
Sublette and Park are the only two counties that have not adopted the fifth penny. They have also not approved the sixth. In both counties, residents and visitors pay four cents sales tax.
