Legislative report part 2: Sen. Laursen urged to work for Big Horn County

Sen. Dan Laursen, R-Powell, attended the December 16 meeting of the Big Horn County Commission, where he fielded legislative questions from the three commissioners as well as Lori Smallwood, Jen Kirk, Gina Anderson, Serena Lipp, Nicole Vigil, LaRae Dobbs and Cozette Winters.

In part one of this story printed last week Laursen was urged by county officials to listen to voices in Big Horn County, as well as Park County, where he lives. A variety of county officials also spoke about the effects property tax cuts have on their offices and ability to serve the public.

The effect on offices

County Treasurer Vigil said some people are saying it is great they got their property taxes cut, but no one writing the tax reduction bills reached out to the offices that are being impacted.

“Nobody asked me about what it’s going to do if we cut registration,” she said. “What is it going to do if we collect the minerals in this way? They don’t ask. They just hand it to us and say you make it work. It doesn’t work. We don’t have enough money to keep our offices running.”

Her office is down a person as is the district court’s office. She believes the legislators should always talk directly to the people in the offices. She offered to provide both legislators (Rep. John Winter, R-Thermopolis, was also in attendance) a breakdown of all the special districts that shows how little they get financially to function.

Laursen said that info needs to get out to the voters. Big Horn County has 54 special districts. 

“I think what people saw was the increase, obviously,” he said. “Maybe it isn’t as much in Big Horn County up here. House evaluation since 2019, I don’t know if it is 60 or 70% here, but it has been in Park County. That is what fired people up. It’s bouncing closer to you obviously. That is what drove it.”

Commissioner Bruce Jolley told Laursen, “I don’t mean for this to be real personal, but it seems like you kind of know what is going on in Park County, but you don’t know what is going on in Big Horn County.”

Commissioner Deb Craft asked if there was a way to balance it out with the hardship counties by giving them additional funding. The senator responded that in the direct distribution there is a formula for that, but it isn’t that big. It would be the same with the sales tax distribution. There is talk about trying to increase it a little bit, he said, adding, “It obviously can’t be increased that much.”

When asked why that is obvious, he said because “we are outnumbered when we go to vote for that down there,” noting that the total number of legislators from the Big Horn Basin is the same number of legislators for Cheyenne alone. Dobbs asked if our local legislators are working with the other hardship counties. She was told yes.

Deputy County Attorney Jen Kirk said part of the issue is coming from a national political party perspective.

“We can’t really beat around that bush,” she said. “There is a big difference in saying we have to work to remove bloat from the federal government and how that impacts small local communities. Because if you start DOGEing these little counties ... here we are. This has become bigger than the Freedom Caucus. This has become life or death for some of these smaller towns.”

She continued she understands it is a difficult position when a legislator represents more affluent communities as well as poorer ones, stating, “This has become bigger than a political party standpoint. Someone is going to have to be willing to break from that. I hope people will do that before it is too late.” 

Laursen told Kirk that he hears her and that Park County isn’t that much better than BHC. He is getting the same thing from them.

“But I think we need to reach out to our citizens and let’s as a group go out and have some town halls if that is what you would like to do,” he added.

County Clerk Smallwood asked Laursen what his priorities are for the upcoming session. He replied he is always open and would provide his phone number. He added that Joint Appropriations had met two weeks prior and would be meeting again in another two weeks. He added they have heard from a lot of the larger state agencies thus far. They are all asking for a lot of money.

“The governor has given us his budget, so we are looking to see if we agree with the exception requests or even their standard budget,” he said.

He continued that the committee has met a lot about developmentally disabled people and trying to get more money in that area, noting, “We will add more money there to go to the contracting people that are out there taking care of these people. We need to do that, obviously.” He isn’t sure exactly what the number will be but thinks it will be $20 million or so statewide. The funding will reside with the Wyoming Department of Health.

School funding

Emergency Management Coordinator Dobbs asked if any of the funding was going to the schools. The schools are shorthanded and don’t have enough money to provide the services needed for the students on an IEP (Individualized Education Program). She continued that the Department of Health has the largest budget and the most employees.

“The more employees that you have, then the more determined they are to have something with their name on it so that they are essential,” she said. “So maybe if we are looking to cut someplace, we start with the place that has the largest budget with the most employees. Not the services that they provide but the number of employees at the state level who are not providing direct services.”

Those services are being provided at the school, municipal and county level, Dobbs said. They aren’t the ones receiving increased funds, but the Department of Health is. More money is needed for the services, she agrees, but the money should go to those providing them directly.

Laursen said he is one of the three-person subcommittee for this topic. It has been an education for him on how the department is spending the money. He believes the director is doing a good job.

“It is a lot of money, but there are a lot of services out there. I don’t know what to say there,” he said.

Regarding Dobbs’ question about funding for schools, Laursen said he would have to look into it, adding, “I’m sure they are getting plenty. If you go to your local schools, how they distribute it might be a concern to me.”

Dobbs followed up by asking if Laursen was saying the state is doing a good job but the schools are not. He responded, “We can throw money at them just like we do UW, and we don’t know where it goes. Yes.” Dobbs continued, “You are willing to give it to the state, but you’re not willing to make sure they are distributing to the schools because you don’t think the schools are doing a good job.”

Laursen said he doesn’t know if that money goes to the schools. He would have to look into it. Kirk, who has a child on an IEP, stated that the school in Basin is doing the absolute best job they can with the limited resources. There was also discussion about the limited number of paras available to help with these students. Those positions are turned over frequently. Laursen noted that what the paras are paid is determined by the school district.

Vigil and Kirk pointed out that districts can only pay with the money they have. Laursen said it is the school’s funding, and they decide where it is spent, to which Vigil replied that this is true at the county level, too, but if there is no money because the state has cut it, it isn’t on the county. It is on the legislators that are approving the cuts.

Laursen believes that the Wyoming Business Council (WBC) will “have a tough time surviving. The legislators that are there now are not too happy with the Wyoming Business Council.” He isn’t sure if the WBC has come to this county on projects. 

He has a bill he is working on regarding the Wyoming State Guard.

“We have the National Guard, and then we have the State Guard,” he said. “I am really worried that if the National Guard get completely called out to go to war, we won’t have anybody here. I think it is vital. It is in statute now because we are tied to asking the federal government if we can do that. So we are going to take that wording out. I’m kind of worried about what is happening military wise with China, or, what do you want to call them, Taliban or whatever, if they are infiltrated or not. I don’t know. At what point is our infrastructure vulnerable? I don’t know. It worries me.” He said he also worries about the national debt.

Keep the county in mind

Jolley, addressing both Winter and Laursen, asked them to keep in mind as they bring forth bills to legislation that BHC is already broke.

“There is no way to make that shiny -- everything that you passed that is an unfunded mandate to the county,” he said. “That is just one more thing in the hole. Whether it is courthouse security, school security, whatever. One more unfunded mandate is one more thing that we can’t already pay for. If you would keep that in mind.” 

Vigil addressed with Laursen the legislation proposing a cut in the percentage of the license fee registration that goes to the county. The 77% cut would impact the county and the special districts. 

Kirk discussed if there is a way to make the appointment of judges less secretive, stating, “I am begging not to make judges elected officials. It would be disastrous for our legal system. We have a very good system here. There has been talk about it going through the Senate confirmation process. There are ways to make the name available sooner so people can provide feedback.”

Jolley asked if Winter or Laursen were Freedom Caucus members. Winter has stated on several occasions that he is one of the original members. He didn’t respond to the question on this occasion. Laursen said the Caucus didn’t invite the Senate to become members. 

Jolley followed up with, “When votes start coming in, does the Freedom Caucus (vote) in lock step, or can you have in your own mind that you had a meeting in Big Horn County and I shouldn’t vote for this?” Vigil asked Winter how many times he has not voted the way he was told to vote by the Freedom Caucus. He responded quite a few. Laursen answered, “They don’t tell us what to do. I’ve never had that happen, and I wouldn’t care if they did tell me.” 

Jolley said he likes some of the things they do, but it is getting nuts.

“It isn’t government at the lowest level by any means, which both of you run on, government at the lowest level. You make these decisions, and it takes away from government at its lowest level,” he said.

Smallwood asked both Winter and Laursen to discuss any bills they will be sponsoring. Winter explained he had one bill that just came up to address a problem. Laursen said the bill he mentioned about developmentally disabled. He didn’t have others prepared.

Craft told the legislators she hoped the county wasn’t coming off as whiny.

“We are a unique county in how we are divided,” she said. “I don’t know if anyone else realizes that when you talk about Big Horn County at the state level, we have the north and the south, two senior centers, two road & bridge, we have law enforcement from Frannie to Hyattville. Fifty-four special districts, four school districts. We are very unique compared to a lot of places around the state. I hope that message can get across and get to somebody. Some of these counties have no idea what you deal with here.”