Proposed Budget Highlights
The governor’s supplemental proposal focuses on making investments in strategic savings, responding to inflation, and addressing other urgent matters the state is facing. The supplemental proposal includes the following recommendations:
Strategic Savings
- Puts $412 million into the Permanent Mineral Trust Fund.
- Moves funds into the Common School Permanent Land Fund.
- Leaves $2 billion in the rainy day fund (Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account)
- Allocates $8 million to the Cultural Trust Fund and $5 million to the Wyoming Natural Resource Trust.
- Puts $35 million in Wyoming’s Tomorrow Fund.
Inflation
- Funds a second year of the property tax relief program.
- Increases payments to long-term care facilities and increases the reimbursement rate for dental care to Medicaid recipients.
- Allocates $50 million towards construction projects the legislature has already approved.
- Sets aside $13.7 million for other inflationary costs related to delivering state services including travel, food at state facilities, and healthcare.
- Proposes passage of the external cost adjustment for teachers.
- Proposes $61 million for an employee compensation proposal to retain and recruit the workforce for the state.
- Proposes a one-time injection of $68 million to pay for an increase in benefits to retirees.
Health
- Allocates funds to implement the expansion of capacity at state facilities and to make improvements to how the state delivers mental health care.
- Puts special revenue into the Mental Health Board to effectively manage the increased number of application and process new requirements set forth by the legislature to help increase the number of certified providers in Wyoming.
Cybersecurity
- Allocates funds to add levels of security to nearly 100 applications in use by the State of Wyoming.
Environment
- Requests $500,000 for hydrologic modeling.
- Requests $3 million for predator control and to control invasive species.
Other
- Increases the budget for the Gaming Commission to add more personnel to manage the expansion of gaming in the state.
- Recommends making funds available now to address school facilities in need of remedy.
- Adds $10 million back to the Mineral Royalty Grant program.
- Allocates $50 million to the energy matching fund.
- Directs $26 million to be distributed to local governments.