JACKSON, Wyo. — This year’s SPET ballot is long, with 15 items and over $166 million in requested funding, Teton County Treasurer Katie Smits spoke with Buckrail about how funds are allocated to specific projects and when funding can be expected.
SPET 101: How it works
- Yearly SPET collections are estimated at $21 million.
- It’s estimated that 2019 funding will be fully allocated by the end of December 2023.
- For SPET measures voted on in 2022, funding will be allocated to receiving entities starting in January 2024.
- Projects that require less funding aren’t necessarily funded first.
- Funding is allocated monthly based on a percentage.
“When talking about the SPET election, the bottom line is that it may take eight years, or longer, depending on the economy and collections, to get all an entity’s money, so that needs to be understood going into this process,” Smits said.
SPET, the “specific purpose excise tax,” is an additional penny of sales tax. According to the town and county, tourists pay more than 50% of sales tax collected in the county.
Depending on what projects are approved, Smits will create a distribution schedule after reaching out to each entity to understand the timeline of their projects. Projects that require less funding arent necessaryly funded first. Funding is allocated monthly, based on a percentage.
Yearly SPET collections are estimated at $21 million.
2019 SPET
The 2019 SPET initiatives totaled $75 million. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, sales tax collections also took a hit.
“We were really behind when COVID hit,” Smits said. “We were like six months behind on payments.”
“March of 2021 we started catching up and then it was like boom,” Smits said.
As of Sept. 29, $49.8 million has been paid out. Another $25.2 million is owed for 2019 SPET items.
Orginal estimates from the Treasurers office projected that all of the funds for the 2019 SPET would be fully allocated by Sept. 2024, but Smits now estimates funding will be allocated by the end of December 2023, making room for the 2022 items to begin receiving funds.
“But it all depends, are we going to be in a recession? Are we still going to get $20 million as we have been in the past couple of years?”
Sample ballots are available here.
