Big Horn County capitalizes on expanded property tax refunds

After a 2023 bill made more Wyomingites eligible for the state’s property tax refund program, nearly four times as many refunds were approved in Big Horn County in 2022 as compared to 2021.
The state of Wyoming has funded the refund program for three of the last four tax years — it was not funded for the 2020 tax year.
The program approves applications based on an applicant’s income level, and refund totals are generally half of the median property tax amount in each county.
Wyoming Department of Revenue Director Brenda Henson provided an overview of the program during a Joint Revenue Committee meeting last week.
“This was a program that the Legislature expanded last year,” Henson said. “(It) expanded the income criteria to allow more Wyoming homeowners to qualify and also expanded the amount of those refunds.”
House Bill 99 made homeowners earning up to 125% — compared to the original 75% — of the state’s or county’s median income level eligible for the program.
In Big Horn County, the program meant 173 refund program applications were submitted for tax year 2022, 107 more than the number of applications submitted for tax year 2021.
For 2021, 42 of the 66 applications were approved and the average refund was $352.
In 2022, 154 of the 173 applications were approved and the average refund was $459.
Across Wyoming, 9,717 refund program applications were submitted, of which 8,813 were approved. Refunds totaled $8.26 million for an average of $937.68 — compared to $1.85 million for an average of $601.63 in 2021.
Laramie County received and approved the most applications — 1,457 of 1,608 applications were approved — and Teton County had the highest average refund of $3,568.77 to 442 approved applicants.
(This story was originally produced in Sheridan, circulated by the Wyoming News Exchange and edited for use in Big Horn County.)