CHEYENNE, Wyo. — For all the financial volatility within and beyond the state over the past two years, the Laramie County Board of Commissioners was able to celebrate last week’s passing of the county’s 2023 fiscal year budget as a hallmark achievement.
Last Thursday, the governing body unanimously approved a $235.8 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year, the county’s largest ever budget and a 28% increase from the $184.1 million budget passed last summer for 2022.
Citing a “conservative” approach to budgeting that purposely estimates low revenues, an increasingly diversified economic portfolio in the county and other additional factors, the board and other individuals involved with the budgeting process were overall pleased with how things turned out as the budget, in accordance with state law, remained balanced.
“In some years, our budget preparations are difficult — or more challenging, I would say,” Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee said during the meeting, “and in other years, they go incredibly smoothly. This was one of those smooth years, thankfully. … Our county’s financial situation is solid.”
Revenues were better than anticipated, Lee said, with the area’s recovery in the oil industry from COVID-19-induced hiccups and American Rescue Plan funds (of $19.3 million) helping out in that regard along with property and sales taxes and intergovernmental revenues.
Commissioner Gunnar Malm told Cap City News on Tuesday that the county’s tradition of lowballing estimated revenues enables it to navigate through tight scenarios with minimal damage, such as when the county did not lay off any employees despite the pandemic. Saving for what Malm called “rainy days” (the county has $71.5 million in reserve funds, it said) has proven beneficial for the financial health of the county, he said.
“We saw the benefits of that conservative budgeting over the COVID years of 2021 and 2022 budgets,” Malm said. “Where you saw other governmental entities reducing force, [having] layoffs, furloughs and things like that, Laramie County never had to do that, because of our budget approach of estimating revenues at the lowest possible scale and our projected expenses at the highest.”
Laramie County’s status as Wyoming’s largest county by population also means more opportunity for multiple revenue streams, Malm said, particularly as some energy-dependent counties across the state feel the sting of market volatility in the fossil fuel industry.
Malm said in the meeting that Laramie County “control[s] our own destiny” when it comes to gaining revenues through economic development, citing the area’s welcoming of data centers as one major example. It’s a sense of stability that puts him at ease.
“It’s proved to be very effective,” Malm said. “It was important as we moved into the future for us to look at a diversified portfolio of revenues. … We’re seeing those pay dividends now as the volatile oil and gas market and the energy market across the state of Wyoming has seen big ebbs and flows and increases [and] booms and busts. Laramie County is able to provide a more stable revenue stream because it bridges so many industries.”
A total overview of the county’s 2023 fiscal year budget is listed below, having been shared as part of a presentation during the budget meeting. A video recording of the hearing is linked here.
