Casper Passes 4 of 8 Six Penny Tax Items

A six-penny sales tax was offered to the voters of Casper Wyoming.

Half of the 8 items offered by the city were passed.

Those items seem to be split by what people feel was needed rather than desired.

Items passed include:

A new Metro Animal Shelter building – $7.3 million

Land Acquisition and a new Fire Station No. 1 – $4.4 million

Updating the outdated 911 Dispatch Center – $5 million

Washington Park bandshell improvements – $1.5 million

Six penny items rejected include:

A secondary rink at the Casper Ice Arena – $5 million

Hogadon Ski Basin Chairlift replacement – $4.2 million

Two fast-pitch softball fields – $4 million

An Auxiliary gym at the Casper Rec Center – $3.6 million

So ski resort chair lifts and softball fields are out.

But a new fire station and updated 911 services are in.

Needs over wants.

This extra penny tax is not permanent.

The tax for the items approved will be collected until all of the money needed is in the bank. Then, the tax will end.

A penny tax in a community the size of Casper can raise the money for a million-dollar project in a very short period of time.

Under Wyoming law, local government cannot raise a tax without the approval of the voters. That is why items like this must be put on the ballot, or the city must find the money for projects like this another way, or drop these ideas altogether.

As for the rejected items, those projects can still happen, but it will probably come about by local fundraising among other ways those groups can find to raise money.