Amendment A all about "local control," commissioners say

To get onto a ballot, an amendment must pass both houses of the state legislature with two-thirds of the vote.

This measure was introduced as House Joint Resolution 9 in March 2021. The House approved it on a vote of 43-16. The Senate approved an amended version of the measure with a 25-5 vote, and the House concurred with the amendments on a 46-13 vote.

The state has invested money in its permanent funds in equities since the 1990s. In 2016, voters approved an amendment that allowed Wyoming to invest its state agency pool, which includes hundreds of non-permanent funds, into stocks and equities.

If Amendment A passes, it would allow local governments to do the same thing. It’s a way for them to increase revenues without raising taxes.

Campbell County Commission Chairman Del Shelstad said it all comes down to local control. He doesn’t think Campbell County will take advantage of it, but he likes having the option.

“We preach all the time about local control,” Shelstad said. “If all of a sudden, we’re not for that (amendment), then we’re not really for local control.”

The county treasurers across the state, however, are opposed to it, said Campbell County Treasurer Rachael Knust.

“The public has a hard time with us investing their money anyway, they think we shouldn’t have an excess of money to be able to invest,” she said. “If we end up losing money, the county treasurers are the ones that are going to get yelled at.”

She also worried about future commissions that might come in “and want to see how much money they make.”

“It’s a less conservative approach, but it’s still pretty conservative,” Commissioner Rusty Bell said. “It’s not an open door to invest it all in Apple. There’s still a lot of safeguards.”

“You have people that think if we have money to invest, we’re overtaxing them,” Shelstad said.

Most of the county’s investments are for continued and future maintenance of its facilities, and the commissioners said it’s irresponsible to not have money set aside for these things.

Commissioner Colleen Faber added that if counties decided to invest some money in equities and end up getting a better return on their investments, that could lead them having to tax fewer mills.