News Flash

A great question has come up on Facebook about the Special Purpose (6^th Penny) Tax, so we would like to take a minute to share the current status.

The Special Purpose (6^th Penny) Tax ballot will generate $12.1m designated for 10 specific projects, approved by voters in May 2019. The ballot can be viewed at https://www.rawlinswy.gov/DocumentCenter/View/17703/201905-Official-Ballot---May-17-2019. There is also an communications flyer which is available from Carbon County at https://www.carboncountywy.gov/DocumentCenter/View/4922/CarbonCounty_RegVoterLetter_Attachment_v05_Nov30 and provides an overview of County and municipality projects, although it does not list all ten City of Rawlins projects.

Here is the full list of City of Rawlins’ ten projects, with numbers added for clarity: “$12,193,076 to Rawlins for street, water, sanitary sewer, drainage, and landscaping improvements:

1. reconstruct a section of Walnut Street from 3rd Street to 7th Street, including water and sanitary sewer improvements; 
2. rebuild (no water or sanitary sewer improvements) Edinburgh Street from Dunphail to Murray Street, including utility replacements and the addition of storm sewer improvements; 
3. rebuild (no water or sanitary sewer improvements) Washington Street from Davis to Colorado Street, including utility replacements and the addition of storm sewer improvements;
4. rebuild Airport Road (Higley Boulevard Corridor Study); 
5. construct curb and gutter on Harshman Street south of the Recreation Center and sidewalk, curb and gutter connection to new part of street and school section;
6. construct a pedestrian bypass from Aberdeen Street to Harshman Street (Higley Boulevard Corridor Study);
7. construct a raw water line from Rochelle Ranch Golf Course to Rawlins Cemetery;
8. relocate sanitary sewer line and storm drainage in the Alton Lane area that is under the railroad tracks;
9. convert the ditch at the South Side Fire Station to underground drainage system; and 
10. create low maintenance landscaping for City rights-of-ways.”

Normally, when a 6^th Penny tax is passed, the project is bonded so the work can be contracted out immediately. In this case, we did not bond. This means we can work on projects after the tax funding is collected.

There is a likely chance that not all ten projects will be funded through the $12.1 million. Currently, inflation costs are outpacing tax revenue.  The City Council will be asked to prioritize the 6^th Penny Projects since it is likely that all ten projects will not be completed.  The current balance of the 6^th Penny Fund is around $4.4 million.

For the ten projects on the 2019 6^th Penny ballot, the City has completed one project and worked extensively on “Edinburgh Street” and “Construct Raw Water Line” since the approval in 2019. In 2021, the Walnut Street Reconstruction was completed at a cost of $1.855 million.  

Edinburgh engineering will be completed in the next few months. However, enough funding has not been collected from the tax, and due to the wording in the ballot the project may not cover all the costs. Our current estimate for the entire Edinburgh Street project is over $5 million. The City of Rawlins has prioritized a full rebuild with all utilities and stormwater work being performed at the same time, so the new road would not have to be torn up.

We have extensively studied “construct a raw water line from the Golf Course to the Cemetery.” This project is now estimated at more than double the original cost estimated for purposes of the tax, over $4 million. In addition, the city has been studying alternate water sources for the cemetery, such as wells, to see if they are more cost effective.