Albany County officials tell Revenue Committee University landholds cost Laramie millions in lost property tax
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Summary
Albany County Assessor Chelsea Matthews and a Laramie resident told the Revenue Committee that University of Wyoming and state land ownership removes millions of dollars in local property tax revenue each year, stressing lost fire/EMS support and storm‑sewer impacts and urging state and university engagement.
Albany County officials and residents told the Wyoming Legislature’s Revenue Committee that extensive state and university land ownership in and around Laramie leaves the city and county footing bills for services without receiving corresponding property tax revenue.
“Laramie doesn’t get any property tax from the university or the state land,” Chelsea Matthews, Albany County assessor, told the committee. Matthews testified the county contains roughly 2.6 million acres, of which about 16,140 acres belong to the University of Wyoming and roughly 211,000 acres are state land currently treated as tax‑exempt — figures she said translate into millions of dollars in annual revenue the city doesn’t receive.
Local resident Mike, who described himself as a lifetime Laramie resident, gave a detailed example showing different valuation scenarios. Using conservative fair‑market and agricultural acre values, he estimated Laramie’s annual forgone tax revenue from university‑owned lots could be in the range of $4.7 million to $5.3 million, and he said the cumulative impact over 12 years could approach $38 million if a 1.5% tax increase were applied in the analysis.
Speakers highlighted service demands tied to campus activity. Mike described higher emergency calls and staffing pressure on the Laramie Fire Department tied to campus residence life: “According to UW admissions, we have approximately 7,200 out‑of‑town students currently at UW. If 50 to 75% of those students drive, that gives us 3,500 to 5,200 additional vehicles on Laramie streets that are not contributing any taxes towards the city,” he said.
Committee members pressed assessors to clarify how exemptions are determined. Matthews said assessors review three criteria — ownership, use, and property type — noting some university properties already pay taxes (conference center, leased medical clinic sites), while others are exempt because the statutory definitions classify them as governmental or part of a housing project.
Several lawmakers asked whether existing agreements with the university (for example, a one‑percent fire contribution and a past payment toward a ladder truck) might be renegotiated; witnesses said those agreements ended in 2003 and local officials have not reached a recent comprehensive funding arrangement with UW.
The committee did not propose immediate statutory action in the hearing but asked for more data. Committee chair and members encouraged further information on the universe of university‑owned parcels, historic purchase prices and prior tax payments, and any previously negotiated payments to local services to better understand options available to the Legislature.
The Committee left the record open for follow‑up data and advised local officials that the discussion will continue as staff refine the fiscal evidence and options the committee may consider during the interim.
