Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
TEN SLEEP – At a special meeting of the Ten Sleep Town Council on Monday, the town addressed a handful of subjects, including paying bills for June, voting to join a tax resolution voter drive, and approving the operating budget for 2018-19.
The council approved Ordinance 212, authorizing the budget, which totals $11,869,02.12.
General fund receipts total $264,008.26; licenses total $5,300; intergovernmental revenue totals $206,884; water fund receipts total $106,700; sewer fund receipts total $344,806.96.
One-cent sales tax funding to the town is expected to be $200,000.
Capital Improvement receipts total $9,653. Ambulance receipts total $49,050.
Gross general governmental expenses are projected at $415,485.13.
Public safety expenses, including ambulance, fire and law enforcement total $18,000. Maintenance is budgeted at $3,000.
Water fund disbursements total $77,021.41, while sewer fund disbursements are $399,070,61.
In other business, Lee Lockhart, representing the county’s One-cent Sales Tax Education Committee, gave the council an update on committee organization to date, and outlined steps moving forward to educate voters on the sales tax distribution and vote, slated for Nov. 7.
On Jan. 16, the commission originally facilitated a meeting with entities currently covered under Joint Resolution 315, which splits one-cent sales tax funds, along with new parties interested in becoming sales tax recipients, in light of the state’s waning budget.
Voters most recently supported the general purpose optional one-cent tax in 2014 with 64 percent of Washakie County voters in favor. The current tax will be collected through June 30, 2019.
Currently, the majority of the tax goes to the city of Worland, followed by the Worland
Community Center Complex, town of Ten Sleep and then Worland and Ten Sleep senior citizen centers and Crisis Response and Prevention Center.
Voters in November will decide if the one-cent general purpose tax is continued.
Lockhart encouraged the council to finalize Ten Sleep’s portion of a resolution that will be presented to voters, explaining where the distributions will be spent.
Previously the Ten Sleep Council reworded a previous paragraph in the 2014 resolution. On Monday, the council approved the 2018 resolution.
The Worland City Council approved the resolution last week. The resolution now needs approval by the Washakie County commissioners for approval. If all three entities approve the resolution, the question will be placed on the November ballot.
The resolution would put the question of continuing to impose a general purpose 1 percent sales tax on retail sales for four years on the ballot. Revenue from the tax would be distributed to seven government agencies and/or organizations.
•Worland Senior Center, 5 percent, to supplement local funding to ensure continuance and stability of the center by providing needed money to match grants.
•Ten Sleep Senior Center, 5 percent, to supplement local match funding to ensure the continuance and stability of the center.
•Town of Ten Sleep, 15 percent to supplement funds to be used for improvements to streets, water, sewer and other town-owned and/or maintained infrastructure.
•The Worland Community Center will receive 25 percent of the tax if voters approve it in November. The funds will be used for operation and maintenance of the existing facility, seed money for grants and program development.
•City of Worland, 42 percent, to be used for infrastructure projects such as, but not limited to, street, curb, gutter replacements, maintenance, repair and drainage.
•Crisis Prevention and Response, 2 percent to be used as a match for grants toward the addition of the facility and providing services to victims of crime in Washakie County.
•Worland Fire Protection District No. 1, 6 percent to be used in conjunction with district funds for the replacement of Ladder 1, a 1985 Pierce 75-foot aerial truck with a 100-foot aerial platform.