Wyoming’s State Board of Equalization has agreed to implement a property tax cap while a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality works through the court system.
The agreement with the governor’s office, granted by a district court Thursday, is intended to minimize disruptions to the state’s tax system while the legal battle carries on.
“The Parties’ agreement to this stipulated preliminary injunction is a pragmatic accommodation to allow this matter to proceed to a final merits determination without delay and with minimal disruption to property tax administration,” the filing states.
Gov. Mark Gordon sued the board in June after the panel concluded that it could not certify residential property tax assessments due to disparities created by a 4% tax cap enacted by the Wyoming Legislature two years ago. A district court then temporarily ordered the board to enforce the cap. The board also countersued last week.
The dispute quickly raised concerns about the ability of local governments to collect 2026 property taxes on residential properties — a key source of funding for public services like K-12 education, roads, sewers and law enforcement.
To avoid further confusion and significant disruption, the governor’s office and the board proposed an agreement to the court: The cap will be enforced until its constitutionality is determined. Laramie County District Court Judge Nathaniel Hibben granted the motion Thursday.
The case hinges on the cap’s constitutionality, the board’s authority and the administration of the state’s property tax laws, the motion states, and will require a court to resolve substantive legal questions.
“The Parties further recognize that uncertainty during the pendency of this litigation may affect tax administration, including county assessment processes, Department of Revenue administration, taxpayer expectations, and orderly implementation of property taxes.”
The motion comes with several caveats.
“By entering into this stipulation, neither Party admits any fact, legal conclusion, element required for preliminary injunctive relief, or entitlement to final relief,” the filing states.
The agreement also allows the board to “document in its certification or examinations that any certification decision is entered pursuant to court order and may note its constitutional concerns with that decision.”
The parties also agreed that the motion, if granted, would render the hearing scheduled for Monday unnecessary.
In 2024, the Wyoming Legislature passed the cap to relieve homeowners grappling with rising property taxes. The cap, structured as an exemption, has created nonuniform assessments across the state, according to a report released by the board in June. The report highlights “thousands of value ‘inversions’ in each county,” such as when a higher-market-value home is assessed at a lower taxable value than a lower-market-value home.
Because of its constitutional obligation to ensure uniformity, the board wrote in the report that it could not legally certify residential land or improvement values while the cap is in place.
But now that the board has agreed to enforce the cap until a court comes to a final determination, it “certainly gives us some relief out of some of the confusion,” Converse County Dixie Huxtable told WyoFile on Monday.
Without the agreement, Huxtable said, county assessors were worried about the possibility of having “to revalue 2026 properties.”
Whichever way the district court rules, the dispute is expected to be appealed to the Wyoming Supreme Court.
“Hopefully we will have a decision before we get into next year’s final evaluations, which we don’t start doing those ‘til January, February of next year,” Huxtable said.
WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.
