Sixth Cent Sales Tax on Ballot Tuesday in Natrona County

On Tuesday, voters will go to the polls to decide whether or not to approve a sixth cent tax to help raise $4.3 million to fund two infrastructure projects in the city.

The tax will run from the beginning of April 2022 until the end of June 2022, or until enough money has been made from the tax to pay for the two projects.

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Those projects include the Midwest Avenue project, which seeks to use $2.3 million to rebuild the final section of the project between Walnut Street and Poplar Street, which has been ongoing since 2019.

The other project, the Salt Creek Waterline project, involves $2 million for replace eight miles of pipeline between Midwest and Edgerton, which has been mostly funded by a state grant, but part of the funding must come from local funds, which is where the sixth cent tax comes in.

In Sept. the city partnered with LUM Studios to create a website to help educate the public on what the tax does, which includes $19,400 allocated from existing funds by the city managers office to pay for contract between Casper and LUM.

A survey conducted by ETC Institute in June showed broad support for continuing the one cent tax, as well as for completing the two projects that the six cent tax would address.

It showed that 71% of people in Natrona County are either very likely or somewhat likely to "vote in favor of continuing the one‐cent sales tax," and over 60% of people in the county were very likely or somewhat likely to support the reconstruction on Midwest Avenue and completing the waterline between Midwest and Edgerton.

The survey did show that 45% were somewhat likely or very likely to support "a 6th penny tax to fund critical infrastructure projects now or in the future" if the fifth cent tax was not made permanent.

Only 36% were somewhat likely or very likely to support "a 6th penny tax to fund critical infrastructure projects now or in the future" if the fifth cent tax was made permanent.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., with voters able to register to vote when they arrive at their polling location, as long as they have valid identification with them which includes a variety of documents including a passport or driver's license.