Fremont County approves 2025 mill levy settings after assessor presentation

Fremont County commissioners on a voice vote approved the county'wide mill levy settings for 2025 as presented by staff from the assessor's office.

The county'level operating levy of 12 mills, the state school foundation fund allocation and a variety of special-district levies — including college, BOCES/VOC programs, fire districts, cemetery districts, soil conservation, water/sewer and senior citizen service districts — were reviewed line by line before the motion to approve was moved and seconded and carried.

The assessor's office provided commissioners with the annual tax district booklet printed by the Department of Revenue and a mill-levy worksheet the office uses to calculate each taxing entity's levy. The presenter said the booklet breaks down allowable maximum mills and cites the governing statutes.

Countywide totals discussed included the 12 mills available to county operations and an additional set of levies that together total 11.537 mills in the presenter's example, bringing the combined countywide total cited in the packet to 23.537 mills. The presentation covered Central Wyoming College's authority to levy (listed at up to 4 mills with a 0.5-mill optional levy referenced), BOCES/VOC program levies (generally 0.5 mill per participating program), and other special districts. The assessor's presenter noted that some figures, such as bond levies and certain program allocations, are calculated by the county treasurer's office.

Commissioners and staff clarified how school-related mills are allocated. The presenter said the 12-mill state school foundation fund is statutory; separate allocations described in the packet included a county share totaling 6 mills that is divided among school districts based on average daily membership. The assessor's staff explained the office had not yet received the average daily membership report used to apportion that 6 mills among the county's school districts. Several school districts were listed in the packet with requests for BOCES/VOC levies: School Districts 1, 2, 6, 14, 21, 24 and 25 were included, with some districts asking for the full 0.5 mill per program and others requesting smaller fractions (for example, district 24 requested 0.1 for Northwest and district 25 requested 0.25 for Northwest).

Other specific items in the packet noted in the presentation included: - Recreation boards: up to 1 mill (several districts requested the full 1 mill). - Fire protection: municipalities providing their own fire service may ask up to 8 mills; separate fire districts can ask up to 5 mills; several jurisdictions (Lander, Shoshone, Hudson, Pavilion) asked for 8 mills while Riverton and Dubois requested 5. - Cemetery districts: individual district levies were listed (for example, Dubois Cemetery at 2.376 mills; Mountain View at 1.772 mills). - Soil conservation districts: up to 1 mill (several districts requested 1 mill). - Jefferies City Water and Sewer: listed as requesting 8 mills (the packet identified this as the only special district set up to request mills for water/sewer). - Senior citizen service districts: two new districts were noted (Shoshone senior at 1.5 mills and Riverton senior citizens at 1.982 mills); Lander Senior Citizen Service requested the full 2 mills.

During discussion a commissioner suggested showing per-district breakdowns (for example, school district 1 at x mills) rather than only county totals; the presenter said the office would publish that detail once it received the average daily membership reports used to allocate the 6-mill school county share. The assessor's packet also included the certified final valuation from the state and an assessor compilation tying each levy to the tax district totals for commissioners to review.

After discussion, a motion to approve the mill-levy settings "as presented" was made, seconded and approved by voice vote. The presenter then read an oath to be signed by the deputy county assessor certifying that property valuations and lists had been reviewed and that statements of value had been demanded and examined.

No changes to specific levy amounts were recorded in the meeting minutes during this approval; the presenter noted that some calculated levies (for example bond levies and certain college numbers) are determined by the county treasurer's office and may show as slightly different in the treasurer's final calculations.

The assessor's office said the detailed budgets and the mill-levy tax-district spreadsheet will be posted online for commissioners and the public once final updates are received.