JACKSON, Wyo. — During the Town Council and County Commissioners meeting yesterday, April 28, the jointly funded department heads shared budget updates for the upcoming fiscal year 2022.
Jackson/Teton County Affordable Housing Joint Director, April Norton, shared information about the department’s upcoming budget proposal and an overview of how the department staff spends their time. She will present a more detailed budget plan on Monday, May 3.
In terms of the FY2022 budget, Norton said, “I am proposing to spend over 13 million dollars in capital money this coming year on housing projects and programs, which is a significant increase, it’s about five times what we spent last year.”
Councilmember Jessica Sell Chambers asked about staff capacity, with concerns surrounding the small five-person staff currently working at the housing department. She said, “Housing is the number one priority of our community and we have said as much. The fact that there is not more womanpower in that office, in that department, is striking to me.” Adding, “I think we should be prepared this year to give you the resources that would make the department function better overall, it’s only in the interest of our community and the number one goal that we all have articulated.”
Commissioner Mark Barron took issue with her use of the word womanpower. “Meaning no disrespect. Are we only hiring women in these departments now?” asked Barron.
The spar only lasted a few moments. “It is remarkable that we take note when I say womanpower and no one would remark anything if I said manpower,” said Chambers, “We actually talk FTE’s around these tables,” responded Barron. FTE stands for full-time equivalent and refers to the unit of measurement for an employee and their workload.
Norton clarified that “In a perfect world, we probably have some more staff capacity to help with those capital programs and projects, and I would expect that you will see requests for that next year.”
Councilmember Jonathan Schechter shifted the conversation back to housing, asking Norton, what keeps her up at night in terms of the housing department and their goals.
“Near term is what we all see, this growing disparity in wealth, the story the anecdotes that I am hearing on a daily basis of people who have lived here for 10-15 years, people who are my age who I moved out to Jackson with and we were freshman together, they are getting kicked out of their longtime rentals because somebody can get $5,000 or $10,000 a month in the summer instead of the $2,500 they were charging before.”
