Propery Tax Relief Bill Filed
Gingery Files Homestead Exemption Bill to Provide Property Tax Relief
State Representative Keith Gingery (R-Jackson Hole/Dubois) announced today that he has filed a bill for the upcoming Wyoming Legislative session beginning in February, which will provide a homestead exemption on all residential properties in the State of Wyoming, thus providing much needed property tax relief. Rep. Gingery’s bill is essentially the same bill that he tried last year without success, but with changes made to address some the concerns that were raised last year, specifically providing for revenue neutral allowance for local governments.
The bill provides a $5000 homestead exemption on the assessed value of all residential property. The assessed value is 9.5% of the fair market value. Property taxes are only assessed against the assessed value, not the fair market value. Thus a home worth $100,000 as the fair market value, would have an assessed value of $9500 ($100,000 x 9.5%). The taxes (mill levies) would be assessed against the $9500. Rep. Gingery’s bill exempts $5000 out of the assessed value, so in this example the assessed value would become $4500 rather than $9500, lowering the amount that the taxes (mill levies) are assessed against.
The main issue with the bill last year was that local governments would lose revenue based on this plan. In this newly revised bill, local governments are made whole, by adjusting the sales tax split between the State and Local Governments. On the 4 cent sales tax, the present split between the state and local governments is 69% to the State and 31% to the Local Governments. Gingery’s bill changes the split to 65% to the State and 35% to the Local Governments. This shift makes up for any revenue loss from the property tax relief.
The average savings across the state is low, but this is because property tax is not an issue in many parts of the state. In those areas of the state that property tax is a huge issue, the savings would be greater. About ¼ of residential property owners are severely impacted by the increases in property tax and this bill would provide a savings of $364.52 to most of those homeowners.
The present property tax relief programs are not working and the Wyoming Legislature needs to take action to address this issue. It is repeatedly pointed out that this issue is only affecting a few counties in the western side of the state, but for those counties it is affecting, it is affecting severely. The assessed valuation for an older home in the Town of Jackson has increased on average 64% in the last 7 years. A small townhome in Jackson has increased 118% in valuation in the last 7 years.
Rep. Gingery stated, “We need to find an answer and I believe a homestead exemption may be that answer. Other legislators are drafting other types of property tax relief, and I support all of their efforts. I am not sure what the correct answer is, whether it is my bill or someone else’s bill, but something has got to get passed. This bill addresses the concerns raised by the counties and cities as to loss of revenue, so I think it has a better chance of making it than other bills being proposed. It certainly doesn’t provide the level of relief that I think is needed, but we need to start somewhere, and I started with $5000, but I am certainly open to increasing that number”