JACKSON, Wyo. — The Jackson Town Council and the Teton County Board of County Commissioners met on Monday to finalize the SPET ballot items. The ballot resolution is due to the County Clerk today.
Fifteen SPET items were approved to appear on the ballot in November. A total of 18 SPET applications were submitted back in April.
The final item, $1.93 million in funding for a senior assisted living center was added during Monday’s meeting.
The two bodies agreed to scale back funding for community housing from $25 million to $20 million and took a number of straw polls on items to reduce funding, which all ultimately failed.
Commissioner Mark Barron was the lone nay vote for the proposed SPET items, sharing concerns about how much money was being allocated to each item. “We’ve got to pair some of this back,” he said, suggesting getting the total closer to $125 million.
He suggested cutting a number of the items including $10 million for Town employee housing, $10 million for County employee housing, $8 million for Teton County land conservation opportunities as well as reducing some of the funding amounts for items.
SPET, as a reminder, is a voter-approved penny sales tax paid by visitors and residents on most goods and services, except unprepared food.
The SPET items total $166,435,139 and will appear on the ballot as follows with an option to vote for or against each proposition:
- Teton Youth & Family Services Facility Improvements: “$2,000,000 for designing, constructing, upgrading, remodeling, rebuilding, and improving Teton Youth & Family Services’ existing facilities at Hirschfield Center, Van Vleck Group Home, and Red Top Meadows. This project is sponsored by Teton County.”
- Transportation Alternatives and Safe Routes to School: “$15,000,000 for projects to improve transportation alternatives in Teton County and the town of Jackson including the planning, design, engineering, and construction of pathways and sidewalks for safe routes to school, commuting, and recreation as well as the Stilson transit center and park-n-ride facility and the purchase and installation of transit prioritization traffic signals and other public transit infrastructure. Any unexpended funds, including any unused contingency funds, shall be placed into a designated account, the principal and interest of which shall be used for operation and maintenance of these projects.”
- St. John’s Health Housing:”$24,000,000 for planning, design, engineering, and constructing workforce rental housing, as well as overnight lodging for on-call hospital staff and patients/families. This project is sponsored by the Town of Jackson.”
- Central Wyoming College Campus: “$10,000,000 for planning, designing, engineering, and constructing an approximately 21,000 square foot permanent campus for providing higher education opportunities in fields such as healthcare, early childhood education, hospitality, and language for Central Wyoming College in Teton County. This project is sponsored by the Town of Jackson.”
- Energy Conservation Works Projects: “$5,000,000 for funding community solar and/or other local renewable energy generation; alternative fuel transportation projects; energy audits; planning, design, and construction of energy conservation and emission reduction projects. This project is sponsored by the Town of Jackson.”
- Teton County Land Conservation Opportunities: “$8,000,000 for the Teton County Scenic Preserve Trust to acquire interests in state trust or private land to conserve wildlife habitat, protect open space, protect historic agricultural uses, protect scenic values, and protect public access. This project is sponsored by Teton County.”
- Jackson Hole Fire/EMS Fire Station: “$15,000,000 for planning, designing, and constructing a new fire station in Hoback and/or Wilson and for demolishing the existing station(s) that will be replaced. This project is sponsored by Teton County.”
- Teton County School District Bronc Achievement Center: “$16,505,139 for designing, constructing, and equipping a new school facility that will include indoor recreational space for community youth sports programs, academic classrooms, and laboratories. This project is sponsored by Teton County.”
- Teton County School District Employee Housing: “$16,000,000 for planning, designing, engineering, and constructing multi-family housing for Teton County School District employees. This project is sponsored by the Town of Jackson.”
- Town of Jackson Sidewalks and Pedestrian Accessibility: “$3,000,000 to improve walkability and accessibility in the Town of Jackson, including planning, designing, constructing, replacing, and installing sidewalks, accessibility features consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act, pedestrian and bike safety features, mobility, and wayfinding signs. This project is sponsored by the Town of Jackson.”
- Teton County Water Quality Projects: “$10,000,000 to fund water quality projects that will protect and improve surface and groundwater resources in Teton County, such as the Wilson sewer project, the Town of Jackson stormwater pollution prevention project, and projects to be identified in the Teton County Water Quality Master Plan. This project is sponsored by Teton County.”
- Town of Jackson Employee Housing: “$10,000,000 for the purchase of land and planning, designing, engineering, and constructing Town of Jackson employee rental housing. This project is sponsored by the Town of Jackson.”
- Teton County Employee Housing: “$10,000,000 for the purchase of land and planning, designing, engineering, and constructing Teton County employee rental housing. This project is sponsored by Teton County.”
- Community Housing: “$20,000,000 to preserve and create permanent affordable and workforce homes for local workers and their families. This may be accomplished through the purchase of deed restrictions and/or interests in land on which to design, plan, develop, engineer, construct deed-restricted housing in conformance with the Jackson & Teton County Housing Supply Plan. The Jackson Town Council and the Teton County Board of County Commissioners must authorize and direct the expenditure of these funds. This project is sponsored by Teton County.
- Senior Center of Jackson Hole-Senior Assisted Living Planning:“$1,930,000 to hire professional services to perform and provide a needs assessment, feasibility study, and proposed options for establishing senior assisted living facilities in Teton county, which may include conceptual design. This project is sponsored by Teton County.”
