Why do we need an additional mill levy?
With the formation of a Special Hospital District, the project will have access to one additional mill levy. The additional mill would equal roughly $2 million in tax revenue to help fund and operate the critical access hospital with an attached long-term care facility.
Sublette County receives funding for budget requests through mill levies, which are the number of dollars in taxes that a property owner must pay for every $1,000 of assessed value. An additional mill is equal to an estimated .10 cents of tax for each $1,000 assessment.
HOMEOWNER EXAMPLES
Homeowners would pay based upon the assessed value of your home
$200,000 home - Proposed tax is estimated at $20 per year
$500,000 home - Proposed tax is estimated at $50 per year
BUSINESS EXAMPLE
$2 million business on main street with $800,000 worth of equipment is assessed at $2.8 million total. The proposed tax is estimated at $280 per year.
AGRICULTURE EXAMPLE
Agricultural lands are valued based upon their capacity to produce income. Agricultural property in Wyoming is not taxed, for the most part, at fair market value. Your mill will be based on your Assessed Value, not the market value.
4,700 acres (mix of rangeland and irrigated land) is assessed at $575,000. The proposed tax is estimated at $57 per year.
A $4 million ranch (including 2,000 acres, 1 home, 9 outbuildings) with $1 million worth of equipment is assessed at $5 million total. The proposed tax is estimated at $500 per year.
The additional levy will help us compensate for significantly decreasing county valuations, as well as assisting in the absorbing of the Sublette Center, which has been heavily subsidized for years. The goal is to eventually be financially independent of the county, and to use tax revenues only for capital improvements, not daily operations.
If approved by voters in the 2020 General Election, the Special Hospital District cannot access revenue generated by mill levies until the start of the fiscal year in July of 2021. Until then, the Special Hospital District would operate using the revenue from the two mills appropriated to the Sublette County Rural Health Care District. In June of 2021, the Sublette County Rural Health Care District would vote to disband and turn over the operation to the Special Hospital District. At that time, the Special Hospital District would be eligible for its 3 mill appropriation. In the meantime, both districts would be able to pursue the necessary steps to apply for the USDA loan, begin the process of constructing the Critical Access Hospital and pursue the merger between the Health Care District and the Sublette Center.