The Historic Laramie County Courthouse building at 310 W. 19th St. in Cheyenne is home to the Laramie County Commission and other county offices. Wyoming Tribune Eagle/staff
The Historic Laramie County Courthouse building at 310 W. 19th St. in Cheyenne is home to the Laramie County Commission and other county offices. Wyoming Tribune Eagle/staff
CHEYENNE – Laramie County leaders are in the final stages of shaping their fiscal year 2020 budget, with commissioners planning to consider a $64.8 million general fund spending plan during a public hearing Thursday.
When counting the special revenue and other operating funds, the total proposed budget comes to $151.6 million, about 9.7% more than what was adopted for the current fiscal year, according to Laramie County Commission Chairwoman Linda Heath.
Most of the increase, Heath said, is attributed to the continuation of specific-purpose option tax (sixth penny) construction projects, which include the expansion of the Laramie County Detention Center, renovations to the county courthouse and construction of the new $9.9 million events center at the Archer Complex.
Heath said officials are hopeful the detention center expansion will be finished by sometime in September. Workers are putting final touches on the events center, which is scheduled to host the Laramie County Fair from July 31-Aug. 10.
She said officials are looking at a September or October time frame for completion of the courthouse renovations.
Expenditures related to the newly created Events Department and merit raises for employees up to 5% also account for the increase, she said.
Heath said the county is using reserve funds to pay for the construction projects, but the reserve accounts will be back-filled when sixth-penny funds arrive.
“Our reserves will not be tapped to an extreme level by the construction,” she said. “And we do have to carry those projects as part of the budget.”
Heath said the county’s budget process is simpler than other entities.
“We did have a meeting with our department heads, so they all understand what’s going on with each other’s budget, as well as able to explain and answer any questions that the commissioners had,” Heath said. “With those budgets, there was some discussions of cuts in some areas as we went through the process.”
The budget would authorize the Laramie County Sheriff’s Department to hire 12 additional deputies to staff the jail expansion. The deputy positions were carried over from the FY 2019 budget and partially offset by the elimination of five vacant positions in the county’s combined communications center last year.
The budget also would allow authorizing three Sheriff’s Department patrol deputies. According to Commissioner Amber Ash, one of those positions is dependent on funding from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality’s Industrial Siting Council as a result of construction of the wind farm project at Belvoir Ranch.
“The position is contingent on whether or not we receive impact fees from the Industrial Siting Council for the Roundhouse wind farm at Belvoir,” Ash said. “We testified before the Industrial Siting Council about what we believe the impacts of the wind farm are.”
She said the Industrial Siting Council will meet July 1 to determine impact fees that would potentially fund the deputy position.
Heath said they are looking to fund other new positions in the 2020 budget, including an administrative assistant at the juvenile detention center, a part-time coroner, a motor vehicle registration clerk at the Treasurer’s Office, a motor vehicle registration supervisor, a records clerk for digitizing motor vehicle titles and a building inspector.
She said revenue streams from property tax, sales tax and other sources are “looking very healthy going into 2020.”
“Our oil (production) has helped with that,” Heath said. “There’s a lot of construction in Cheyenne right now, and that’s driving a lot of the sales tax revenue, as well.”
County commissioners will present, conduct a public hearing and consider approval of the proposed fiscal year 2020 budget at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Historic Courthouse, 310 W. 19th St., Suite 310.
