Wyoming Realtors Have Spent Nearly $550,000 To Pass Property Tax Amendment

Laurie Urbigkit, the government affairs director for Wyoming Realtors and treasurer of the 4Wyoming political action committee, said a proposed constitutional amendment to create a separate class of taxation for residential properties in Wyoming is something Realtors have wanted for a very long time.

“For years, we’ve thought we should have a fourth tier for residential,” she said. “We’ve always been behind it and always wanted to do it.

“It’s been our longstanding position to support any legislation that helps people stay in their homes. Too many people are in real dire situations.”

On Tuesday, voters will decide the fate of Amendment A, and Wyoming Realtors are pushing hard to pass it, spending $544,047 so far this fall to convince voters to vote “yes” on A, according to the latest campaign finance report filed Friday. This has included creating a website, billboard and web advertising.

“We’ve done everything I can think to do at this juncture,” Urbigkit said.

To put that number in perspective, no other independent state-level PAC has spent that much money during the Wyoming election season this year or in 2022.

4Wyoming’s expenditure marks the largest outlay by a PAC since Right For Wyoming, a funding arm of U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman’s 2018 Wyoming gubernatorial campaign, spent $650,000 on the primary election that year.

The Wyoming Stockmen For Liberty PAC has spent $31,411 this general election season, nearly all of which has gone toward opposing Amendment A, said its treasurer, Michele McGuire.

The Stockmen for Liberty have put out various advertisements against the amendment, including one describing it as “a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” “intentionally deceitful” and “fake property tax relief.” Another ad by the group attempted to draw comparisons between Wyoming and Colorado should the amendment pass.

Liberty’s Place 4U, a well-known conservative group in Casper, has also campaigned against the amendment on Facebook but hasn’t spent any money toward the effort.

Many members of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus have also spoken against the amendment.

When it passed on third reading in the House in 2023, 15 legislators who are members of or politically aligned with the group voted in support of it.

Specific reasons for opposing the amendment have ranged from concerns that property taxes could actually be raised because of it to worries that it could result in tax increases on other sectors to maintain current levels of government spending.

Urbigkit said she still hasn’t heard a good reason to oppose the amendment.

“It’s absolutely scare tactics when they’re saying things like this is raising taxes,” she said.

Why So Much?

Urbigkit said there are a few reasons why the Realtors have been so motivated to try and pass the amendment, which she considers “a really big deal.”

The biggest is their role in advocating for Wyoming homeowners. Urbigkit sees Wyoming Realtors as the only organization solely dedicated to this group of people.

Some people may question if a Realtor’s assistance extends past the home buying and selling process, but Urbigkit said for any respectable real estate agent it does when considering the average length of time people stay in a home is only seven years.

“If you’re a good Realtor you stay in touch with people and help people,” she said. “They refer you to their friends and in some ways become like family to you.”

Urbigkit said 4Wyoming was specifically formed to allow it to receive money from Realtors and non-realtors, the latter a group she said also gave significant sums to the cause. The group reported 100% of its donations coming through the Wyoming Realtors organization.

“It kind of has me concerned that one specific interest group can influence so many Wyoming Realtors,” McGuire said.

State Sen. Stacy Jones, R-Rock Springs, is a real estate agent by trade who supports the amendment.

Jones said another piece of the amendment that Realtors like is being able to split residential properties into their own subclass of taxation, separate from commercial and agriculture property. She said this opens up a much easier avenue for taxing residential properties at a lower rate.

“The No. 1 goal is responsible taxing of residential,” Jones said.

McGuire believes that creating a separate subclass for residential property would amount to picking winners and losers among the different classes of taxation.

“We’re opposed to dividing and conquering smaller subclasses of people,” she said.

Jones said the Wyoming Realtors received a significant financial grant from the National Association of Realtors that also helped with their campaign efforts. Urbigkit said they also had a particularly successful fundraising effort in Jackson.

Broader Concerns

McGuire said she spoke with a few Realtors in Wheatland that were unaware of the group’s lobbying activity and were offended that the group had been making these moves on their behalf.

She also mentioned how in 2023, Colorado proposed a constitutional amendment reducing assessed valuations for many classes of real property, including certain new subclasses of property. That amendment was rejected by the Colorado voters by a 60% to 40% margin.

“To play that same card here has us nervous,” McGuire said.

Sen. Bob Ide, R-Casper, works in commercial real estate. Ide has concerns that if the amendment passes any future reduction in property taxes will simply shift the tax burden over to different classes of property.

He also said the Realtors could have better spent their money by campaigning for candidates who would bring cuts to overall government spending in Wyoming.

“All Wyoming taxpayers would benefit considerably with more fiscal conservatives in state political office who would work to pass significant tax reform legislation … tied to significant spending cuts,” he said. “Nothing really changes by just moving the property tax goal posts around, without meaningful spending cuts to the budget.”

Likely to go before the Wyoming voters in 2026 is a property tax initiative that would lower taxes for most homeowners by 50%. Sen. John Kolb, R-Rock Springs, believes the only way to make that effort legal is by passing Amendment A.

“Passing the constitutional amendment is the only way we’re going to see long-term tax relief in Wyoming,” he said.

Urbigkit said she’s cautiously optimistic the amendment will pass. She’s also held seminars in three different parts of the state to get the word out about the amendment and what it does.

“We’ve had a good reception, a lot of people seem to get it,” Urbigkit said. “We’ve done everything we can do to inform the voters, we’ve left no stone unturned.”

4Wyoming spent $16,000 with Cowboy State Daily as part of its advertising efforts.

Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.