While proposed property tax cuts may bring relief to homeowners’ wallets, fire districts across Wyoming warn it comes with hidden costs.
Many entities — municipal governments, schools and special districts — have spent months sounding the alarm over the funding challenges that could spring from Proposition 1, a ballot initiative that would reduce residential property taxes by half if approved by voters next month.
Perhaps the most dangerous impacts would lie with fire districts across the state, as they are solely funded by property tax revenue.
“Many of our departments are small and greatly understaffed,” Kevin Reddy, president of the Federated Fire Fighters of Wyoming, said during a news conference hosted by the Vote No on Initiative #1 coalition.
National standards dictate a department should be able to dispatch 17 firefighters to a scene within eight minutes, and only one fire department in Wyoming can dispatch that number, though it cannot stick to that time frame, Reddy said.
“If our budgets are strained, and we can’t conform to the best practices set by the fire service, why would we cut revenue to public entities?” Reddy questioned.
Municipal governments can turn to fees, franchise fees and sales taxes to help cover shortfalls in public safety budgets. Fire districts have no such flexibility: They rely solely on property tax revenue, Reddy said.
Although the state requires cities, towns and counties to provide fire protection as an essential service, it provides no state funding to help pay for it, he added.
Cuts Across the State
The Natrona County Fire Protection District, which covers around 5,300 square miles, is at risk of closing one of its two fire stations if the ballot measure succeeds.
The district’s minimum staffing is already below recommended levels and would drop down to only two personnel per fire station. The east side station in Evansville has been “browned out,” or temporarily closed, around half the time in the last two months because of existing financial troubles.
If that station closes, response times will suffer, ISO ratings will increase and neighboring fire departments will have to pick up some of those emergency calls, Chief Howard Oden said.
“Whether it’s fire or medical, five minutes is an eternity during an emergency,” Oden pointed out.
The Laramie County Fire Authority relies almost entirely on residential property taxes to fund its operations. Since existing property tax exemptions took effect, its budget has fallen by about 38%.
“The direct impact is slower response times, less personnel arriving on scene, poorer firefighters because we don’t have the capability of training — because that costs money — and equipment failures,” Laramie County Fire Authority Chief Jason Caughey said.
For a volunteer-only fire department, such as the Tongue River Fire Protection District, funding challenges are particularly difficult. Currently, the district operates on $78,000 per year after a 15% loss in revenue, Jeff Barron, the district's chief, said.
The district’s property tax revenue is supplemented by a general purpose excise tax that produces roughly $22,000, though that tax is also on the ballot in Sheridan County this year.
Prop 1, if successful, would drive the district’s budget down by another 15%, and if the general purpose excise tax does not pass, the operating budget would drop to $47,000, Barron said.
One challenge is clarifying to the public that while the state or county might have reserves for emergencies, fire districts have no legal means to access those funds, Barron said.
“I can’t sit and hope that I can get some of those dollars or wait for legislation to occur. I have to react to what’s on pen and paper today, and the reality is I’m looking at half the budget coming on July 1,” Barron said.
Proposition 1 has “always been a proposition without a plan,” Barron noted, and fire districts must now teach community members about a difficult subject on short notice.
Possible Solutions
Last year, an unsuccessful bill sponsored by Rep. Elissa Campbell proposed increasing the mill levy cap for fire districts to 10 mills, up from three. A mill is $1 for every $1,000 of a property’s assessed value and is the unit of measure for allocating property tax revenue.
There will be several bills presented in the next legislative session, including raising the mill levy cap, based on conversations with legislators, Oden, the Natrona County Fire District chief, said.
Raising mill levies could be more complicated in Sheridan County, where the Tongue River Fire Protection District has a mutual aid agreement with Ranchester. Barron said the arrangement helps keep Ranchester’s Insurance Services Office (ISO) ratings low, but increasing taxes on county residents would not necessarily benefit the communities paying them.
The value of a mill also varies widely by county, making a one-size-fits-all approach difficult, said Caughey, the Laramie County Fire Authority chief. One mill in Laramie County could generate a couple million dollars, he said, while the same levy in Washakie County might bring in only a few hundred thousand.
“If we're going to increase mills for fire districts, there needs to be enough for our county to raise the appropriate amount of money to purchase a million-dollar fire engine or a $2 million ladder truck,” Caughey said.
© 2026 Casper Star Tribune, Wyo.. Visit www.trib.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.