Wyoming Counties & Property Tax Levy's (Sheridan, Cody: 2009, how much, school district)

[sunsprit]

Since this topic was brought up in another thread, I got interested in how local property taxes vary throughout the state.

It's a real eye-opener as to how much we Wyoming citizens pay for the schools via our property taxes, and how varied it is throughout the state.

As I mentioned in the other thread, most of my property taxes go to the school district (LCSD #2) and to the UW and state school funding pool.

But looking up Sheridan County (source: Board of County Commissioners, Order of Approved Levies, Special Session August 3rd, 2009), they've approved a:

College Levy ... 5.5 mils
County Wide School Levy ... 6.0 mils
School District #1, Operating Levy ... 25 mils
Bond Redemption ... 2.9 mils
School Recreation ... 1.0 mils

a total of 40.4 mils for the schools

Living in Sheridan, with the incorporated City levy (8 mils), Fire District (3.0 mils), and state and county general fund levies (24 mils), weed & pest (1 mil),

the total would be approx 36 mils for services,

and a total of 76.4 mils (approx, there's some special tax districts there, too).

Of those property taxes, about 53% goes for the schools in the area.

In comparison, Teton County has a much higher percentage for the schools, where the mil levy total is about 57.42 mils and the schools get 45.4 mils. A total of 79% of the property taxes for the schools in an area with some of the highest property valuations in the state. Given that Teton county has a lot of part time residents in some high dollar properties who do not use the schools there, it's a substantial expense passed on to them.

For those considering moving to Wyoming, I think these tax issues could be a concern. I'd advise you to get not only the total mil levy in your county and special tax districts, but the breakdown where you can see where your tax dollars are going. So far, I've been able to google many counties and look up the tax levy breakdown ....

[mtlogger]

When I lived on the South Fork the levy was 95 mils - half of which went for schools. Teachers in Cody didn't have enough books for each student so they photocopied the pages for each class and handed them out. With the kind of money that Park Cty took it in - it was an example of how school teachers didn't get paid enough but administrators did.

[BennyPhoenix]

For most of the country 25% to 50% of property tax going to schools is not unusual. 79% is nuts.