WHEATLAND – The final operating budget for Platte County for fiscal year 2024-2025 was approved by commissioners Steve Shockley, Kayla Mantle and Ian Jolovich last week. The final appropriation necessary to keep all the departments in the county running smoothly is $17,715,075.10. Of that, $11,565,356.96 will be carried over from the end of fiscal year 2024 with $5,943,356.19 committed to the budget ($724,000 of this portion is for reserve funds for emergency operation of the government); an estimated $8,759.049.84 in revenue is anticipated, leaving a requirement to levy $2,603,669.07 in property tax with a 10.41 mill levy. Additionally, a 1.59 mill levy is assessed for property in the county to comply with the state statute to fund the library, which is a repository for researchable archives and access to learning materials and information for all citizens.
“There’s $2.6 million in property taxes…I think it’s interesting we raise less than 400,000 (6.5 percent) to fund the library. People don’t know that,” chairman Shockley said.
County clerk explains of budget
In his official budget message, available to the public, county clerk Malcolm Ervin stated the goal of the budget is to “spend as frugally as possible while delivering the highest level of service to the citizens of Platte County. Over the past few years, and this year will be no different, it has been difficult to ensure. Highest quality of service due to increased prices – especially fuel, tires and oil. However, no county has the ability to stretch a dollar like Platte.”
He described a $5,000 appropriation to Project Safe at the request of County Attorney Doug Weaver as one way to help victims keep updated on the status of their cases, without having to hire a part-time assistant. Ervin said the “modest funding to an existing agency” is an example of giving “top-tier service for a fiscally conservative price.”
This year’s budget is $1.3 million higher than last year, mostly due to the Phase II courthouse exterior remodel voted on by the citizens, with an expected $1 million anticipated to be collected this year. The other big-ticket item was a budgeted $600,000 to purchase two new snowplows.
Discussion during the meeting by commissioners revealed a fiasco with ordering plows previously from a company also taking orders from Wyoming Department of Transportation; after waiting for close to two years for delivery, the State of Wyoming received a small portion of what they had ordered, and Platte County was informed they were not going to get snowplows.

This year’s appropriation of funds will purchase two new snowplows that come with a warranty for service and replacement plows if necessary, reducing annual maintenance costs and disruption in service experienced in the past from current plows being more and more difficult to keep operational.
Clerk Ervin said including the fair and library boards as “full-fledged departments [will] ensure their programs continue to thrive. Despite concerns expressed by some that the goal of bringing these entities on board was to rein the reserves of those respective boards, the evidence…[contained] in the budget proves otherwise.”
Questions from the audience addressed specific line items, insurance, security, and other topics related to the budget.
Ervin said he is pleased the questions were asked at the public hearing. “It’s the most important meeting of the year, and some years there has been nobody there. I’m glad there were interested citizens,” he said.

Guernsey Rural Fire District
The commissioners also approved the budget proposal presented by Guernsey Rural Fire District, after a discussion which included an explanation the expenditures can vary, depending on the number and expense of fires that can only be known after fire season.
Patty Small said if the fire season ends with a lighter load for the department, they would like to use some of their funds to purchase another garage building (which are designed to be moved as the need arises) to house their rigs during the winter to keep a more ready response time to their district.

Concern over rumored mine expansion, road use
Stating they were representing a group of concerned neighbors, Roger and Jeanette Barber came before the commissioners to inquire where the county stands on the issue of expansion of Peak Gravel’s gravel mining operation west of Wheatland. The Barbers cited applications before the Department of Environmental Quality that were nearing completion seeking to expand their operation by a quarter mile, and using as an official route not just Jefferson Road as has been used in years past, but also Sybille Creek Road.
During the discussion which lasted for nearly 20 minutes, the commissioners emphasized, the stance of the county – reinforced by the Planning and Zoning Department – is the county will not allow an expansion of the mine. Commissioner Jolovich said DEQ applications consider the environment in their applications (water, air, soil, etc.), so declaring Sybille Creek Road as a main route in their documentation would only be for purpose of identifying any issues environmentally – as far as DEQ is concerned. When the county asks for specific routes, it is to provide a way to set up an agreement to require payment from the company if excessive road damage is determined to have occurred as a result of the business’s operations.
As for the county road use, the commissioners each stated, they cannot and will not limit or ban public, taxpayer-funded road use to a particular entity or group. “They pay taxes, just like everyone else. I’m not going to say they can’t use the road,” Shockley said.
The Barbers said they were not having an issue with the use of the route historically used by the mining operation, nor for the business itself, but it seems ‘behind the scenes’ the company is planning to expand past their currently designated area when approved by the DEQ.
Commissioner Mantle said there has not been any application sought through the county for an expansion, and the Barber’s inquiry is the first the commission has heard of an expansion in recent history. Historically, there has been inquiries through the county to expansion, which have each been turned down as not following the statutes in place. The Planning and Zoning Board has also, in the past, denied an application to change the statutes in question.
“The DEQ does not supersede the county’s jurisdiction over the land, so if they want to take a chance at being fined or go to jail for violation of the rules that have been set, it’s on them,” Jolovich concluded.