CASPER, Wyo. — The Natrona County Board of Commissioners wrapped up two days of budget hearings this week, listening to funding requests from department heads who are grappling with aging infrastructure, strained staffs and the rising costs of inflation and health insurance.
The meetings are the first of several that kick off the county’s weeks-long budgeting process, complicated this year by a 14% year-over-year drop in property tax revenues.
“We don’t have great information about what our revenue picture looks like and it’s been the single most frustrating thing about being a commissioner because it’s so critical to everything we do,” Commissioner Peter Nicolaysen said, adding the county’s various income streams are entirely beyond the board’s control.
Commissioner Dave North agreed, expressing frustrations with the state-mandated budget timeline.
“How we are supposed to figure out a budget based off of vapor and what the trends have been, what may be, what could be?” he said, calling the process “mind-blowingly aggravating.”
Commissioner Dallas Laird voiced his reluctance to approve financial commitments, such as employee raises, without knowing how much money is actually coming in.
“I just don’t know what we can afford and what we can’t. I don’t have a firm grasp on that,” the commissioner said.
The board spent nearly eight hours Monday and another hour Tuesday meeting with department heads and representatives to hear initial budget pitches. The commissioners will be engaging with department heads to review budgets in greater detail and refine the numbers in June.
In this first round of talks, the Natrona County Sheriff’s Office presented a $925,667 overall budget increase, representing a 4.7% jump from the department’s current $19.5 million budget. Sheriff John Harlin said 82% of the spike, or roughly $756,000, results from rising employee health insurance costs beyond his control. The net increase to his non-salary line items was held to $80,210. Harlin’s budget also features a $261,420 payment for year three of a five-year Axon body camera contract.
On the revenue side, the sheriff said the jail brought in $455,280 in the current fiscal year by housing federal ICE detainees at about $95 a day to help offset facility overhead.
Noting the increased indigent inmate medical care costs that the county is ultimately tasked with paying, Harlin said, “I have to protect their constitutional rights, and they deserve to have medical care when they can’t provide that or seek that for themselves.”
Coroner Jim Whipps pitched a relatively flat $610,535 operational budget, which includes $315,500 for salaries and $110,000 for consulting autopsies. Whipps said he expects to conduct around 55 autopsies at roughly $2,000 each. He also said his toxicology budget dropped to $25,000 thanks to a state grant covering suspected overdose testing, and he hopes to pursue opioid settlement money for an instantaneous toxicology machine.
Interim County Attorney Ashley Smith reported a rare drop in expenses by switching legal research software from Westlaw to LexisNexis, reducing the monthly cost from $731 to $450. However, she warned her office is stretched thin due to extreme workloads, detailing a pace of 50 involuntary mental health hearings so far this month, sometimes hitting eight per day.
County Clerk Tracy Good outlined her own logistical hurdles, budgeting $100,000 for elections compared to the $70,560 expended last year. Good must conduct a state-mandated hand audit of roughly 1,700 ballots in nine days, driving up her contract labor lines as she looks to recruit staff from other departments.
“It’s going to be quite an undertaking and again, it’s the unknown,” Good said, adding that during a clerk’s association meeting earlier this year, it took a team of three people one hour to hand count 100 ballots in one race.
The county’s aging facilities presented some of the steepest price tags. Maintenance Director Garrett Rothenhoefer warned the board it will cost $375,000 per elevator to replace the failing operating equipment at the Hall of Justice, a figure that excludes elevator interior aesthetic updates. He also sought to account for a $135,000 LED lighting overhaul at the courthouse, though he expects to cover $120,000 of that with grant reimbursements. He said the project will ultimately save the county $3,000 a month in electricity.
Road and Bridge Superintendent Mike Haigler proposed a $2,128,349 operating budget, a slight decrease of $40,637. He warned that high diesel costs and potential state tax changes could soon gut the department.
“If gas tax and all that goes away, that’s definitely going to impact this road fund,” he said.
Parks Director Michael Brown requested a 1.75% increase for his mountain budget, adding $11,149 to cover expenses like a $20,000 contract labor line for grooming and trail maintenance. His lake budget featured a 7.66% bump, or $86,690, driven largely by a $90,000–$100,000 bubbler aeration system needed for the aging sewer lagoon.
Brown also fielded commissioner pushback over a $100,000 placeholder for site planning for a new lake maintenance shop, ultimately agreeing that a smaller $10,000 allocation might suffice for early conceptual designs.
For the fairgrounds, manager Tom Jones presented a $290,000 request that includes a $187,000 digital billboard to replace a deteriorating sign and boost advertising revenue. A major issue remains the 350 rotting horse stalls, which cost $2,500 each to replace, alongside a $2 million estimate to overhaul the 1953-era rodeo office. Jones told commissioners the barns are over half a century old, adding that replacing the perimeter fence is also becoming a priority as drivers repeatedly crash into the aging chain link.
Library Director Lisa Scroggins submitted a request of $2,991,781, with 94% of the funding dedicated to personnel. She included $17,968 to cover a proposed 1.5% wage increase to retain her trained staff.
The Health Department dedicates 79% of its budget to salaries, requesting a $48,000 operational increase and $65,000 for wages amid rising maternal referrals. The department is jointly funded by the county and City of Casper. Each entity is being asked for $783,967. Executive Director Anna Kinder spoke about the department’s role as a community safety net, telling the board, “We do practice 24/7 to be available with whatever the need may be.”
The University of Wyoming Extension and 4-H programs requested $339,820, up from roughly $312,000 for the current fiscal year. The request includes $166,933 for salaries, $10,000 for travel, $8,000 for office supplies and a $7,031 line item to cover half of a 3% cost-of-living increase approved by the university.
Community Action Partnership sought level funding of $90,000 to support its $2.57 million overall anti-poverty budget. A representative calculated that the county pays just $49 for each of the 1,800 people the agency serves.
“That’s less than one night in jail. That’s less than one emergency room visit,” she said, urging commissioners to maintain the preventative funding.
Development Director Sabrina Kemper pitched a total request of $958,704, an increase of about $35,000, while estimating her department will generate nearly $1.2 million in revenue. She asked commissioners to return a $50,000 cleanup fund to help rural residents dispose of trash through a community dumpster program, and noted a $30,000 expense for commercial fire inspections.
County Assessor Tammy Saulsbury asked for a $5,000 increase to boost her travel and training line to $25,000 to cover mandatory state certifications, alongside a one-time $8,319 jump for employees who recently gained that permanent certification. Her budget also maintains a $49,800 contract for outsourced industrial appraisals and $25,000 for legal defense against tax appeals.
Human Resources Director Danielle Krucheck spoke about rising background check costs, requesting a $1,000 increase for pre-employment testing, but pointed to a much larger countywide property insurance jump to $731,379 and a liability premium of $374,000.
IT Director Eileen Hill requested coverage for an insurance jump from $160,000 to $216,000 driven by family coverage changes, and warned that software subscription and security compliance costs are on the rise across the tech industry. Speaking to the unpredictability of tech vendors, she told the board, “They won’t even quote me what they’re going to predict it’s going to be for a renewal.”
The Treasurer’s Office presented an overall decrease of about $25,000, dropping salary costs by relocating a grants manager position to another department while keeping basic operational lines like a $15,000 postage box budget completely flat.
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Alice J. Roden started working for Trending Insurance News at the end of 2021. Alice grew up in Salt Lake City, UT. A writer with a vast insurance industry background Alice has help with several of the biggest insurance companies. Before joining Trending Insurance News, Alice briefly worked as a freelance journalist for several radio stations. She covers home, renters and other property insurance stories.