Property Tax Bills
Some people have been emailing wondering why I haven't been blogging the first week of the session. We started the Budget Session on February 11 and I have been negotiating around the clock to get the property tax reform bills heard and hopefully passed, so I haven't had time to blog until today. Here is where we are at--- we started with quite a few bills filed and we have narrowed down the list to a few strong contenders.
As I have said in the past, any relief bills, whether they are direct credits, payments, reduced mill levies, reduced assessment rates, or homestead exemption are all great ideas, but are only band aid approaches. The real problem in Wyoming with property taxes is the high rate of increase of assessed values. Our Constitution does not allow us to set caps on rates of increase of assessed values, so we will need a constitutional amendment to make that change.
Some states set limits such as 1% or 5%, or greater as to the rate of increase that the value of your home can go up for tax purposes. When you sell it, the new owner is now responsible for the real fair market value. In may own neighborhood, the assessed value of the homes have gone up 118% since 2001.
The bills that we are seriously looking at are:
HJ 3 is the Constitutional Amendment that will create a new class of property just for residential property and would allow the legislature to set limits on the rate of increase on assessed values. This is by far the most important bill to get through this session, because it will get the issue before the voters in November and gives the ultimate solution to the problem.
HB 162 will only go into effect if HJ 3 passes the vote of the people in November. If the Constitutional Amendment passes, then HB 162 would go into effect and set a limit on the rate of increase of the assessed value of your home. Right now the bill is setting the limit at the same amount that we adjust K-12 funding every year. That way, it potentially changes to stay in line with the needs of the state.
There are also one or two means tested bills still alive, that are seen as backup plans and potential short term relief bills that provide some relief while we are trying to get the Constitutional Amendment passed.