Crook County was the birthplace of HB127 because of an out-of-control school board. Current law allows school boards to create a recreation district and impose a 1 mill levy on the community without a vote of the people (W.S.18-9-201).
HB127 would have still allowed the introduction of a recreation district but will require that the people be allowed to vote to approve or reject it. The rec mill, if approved, will be placed on the general election ballot every four years for reevaluation – is it still beneficial for the community? If so, voters can choose to keep it going. If it is not a good use of the county’s tax dollars, voters can choose to end it. Placement on the general election ballot allows it to be seen by the biggest number of voters.
Over much of 2025, one of the biggest topics throughout Crook County was the school board and its decision to create a recreation district and charge a 1 mill levy to fund it. No one that I talked to, besides Speaker of the House Chip Neiman, was aware that the school board could impose a tax on us without our approval.
A few community members came to the first board meeting when they saw this on the agenda and spoke against it. They left that meeting feeling that no one had heard them, and they told others what was happening. About 70 people showed up at the next meeting. Many were there to speak against it, some just to observe.
At each meeting the few people to speak in favor of the rec district and accompanying tax were put at the end of the comments list, allowing them to speak last and put the approved spin on the meetings. Those in favor were connected to the school board in some way: current school staff and previous board trustees.
The third meeting was packed with objectors to the rec mill. There were so many people in attendance that every chair was filled, people were standing all around the back of the room, and some were seated on the floor in the front corners of the room. Again, the vast majority of speakers were against the project. Some spoke about the already high cost of taxes and inflation eating into their family budgets; others were concerned that there was no plan presented for where the money would be spent.
You read that right: the school board had NO IDEA of what they were going to do with the money. They said they would decide how to spend it after the creation of the rec district. The board members and others who spoke in favor of the rec plan kept repeating the same talking points: it’s for the kids, give the kids something to do, and my personal favorite – it’s for their mental health.
No one had a specific example of why the children of Crook County are in such poor mental health, but collecting $350,000 a year will definitely fix it! One person said they felt as if we were being subjected to taxation without representation. The board chairman replied that we had elected them and that was our representation. He also said he was tired of “outsiders” coming in and trying to change the way things were done in Wyoming.
It turns out that most things really do just roll right along the same way they’ve been done for generations in rural communities. But many of us have moved here from blue states where local control has long been dead. Democrats have super majorities in many of those states, meaning they control every branch of government. It is impossible to break the hold and elect anyone not already part of the club.
Here in Wyoming, in many local races, candidates run unopposed, and we end up with power-hungry but inexperienced mayors, commissioners, councilmen, and yes, school board trustees. My daddy held that seat twenty years ago, and he didn’t face any community objections, so I shouldn’t have to either!
Back to Crook County. The school board not only voted to create the recreation district and impose the tax, but they also decided that the necessary rec board should be made up of only current school board trustees. Several people pointed out to them that this would be a gross conflict of interest, but they proceeded to choose five of the nine school board members to comprise the new rec board. They were served with a lawsuit by a member of the community. That suit is still ongoing.
The reason HB127 is important is because it preserves local control for the people, not just the board. Many people have no idea that school boards can create recreation districts and impose the funding tax without a vote of the people. Crook County was only one of two remaining counties that didn’t already have a rec district, and only because the school board didn’t know they could bypass a vote of the community.
The school board chairman admitted that he didn’t know he had the legal authority to create the district and impose the tax until someone told him about it. He said in one of the meetings that because the law allowed him to, he was moving forward with the rec district. It didn’t matter that the very people who elected him to represent them objected.
While being discussed in the House Revenue Committee on Feb.17th, three people from different counties who opposed the bill each ran through the list of programs the rec mill money funded in their counties, stating how good these were for the communities and how devasting it would be to lose them. They also talked about how difficult it would be for staffing their facilities; no one would want to work where their jobs could be in jeopardy every four years. They presented their programs as necessary for the communities, but they don’t want community input or oversight – just community dollars.
How important or beneficial are these rec districts if those who run them are so afraid to put them to a vote of the people who fund them?
HB127 reaffirms Article 1, Sec. 1 of the Wyoming State Constitution: “All power is inherent in the people…”
The Crook County school board has forgotten who it is they are supposed to be working for – the people of Crook County. It seems that many boards, councils and commissions across Wyoming have also lost sight of their rightful place and that their authority is only granted by the people.
HB127 has the potential to begin to set things right. If passed, it will remind elected officials that they cannot act with impunity against the communities that elect them without consequences.
Shortly after the school board voted to create the rec district, I ran into Speaker Neiman and asked him if the legislature would be amenable to changing the law and allowing people to vote for rec mill levies. He said he already had the bill written and was presenting it. This is how the process is designed to work: when people have a grievance against any part of their government, they speak up, they involve their community, they find a representative to actually represent them, and work to change what’s wrong.
Thank you, Speaker Neiman, for speaking up for Crook County!
HB127 passed through the House. It was placed on the Senate General File on Feb. 27th after passing the Senate Revenue Committee with a 3-2 recommendation. The bill was not introduced on the floor by the committee of the whole deadline.