Wyoming in 2022 was lots just like the man who finds a long-forgotten $20 invoice in a coat pocket.
For the 2 years prior, the state had suffered via a stretch of income declines introduced on by the COVID-19 pandemic and the vitality downturn. Gov. Mark Gordon introduced funds cuts and layoffs. Even easy issues – like some relaxation stops – proved too expensive to afford.
However the state’s financial fortunes have loved fairly a turnaround this yr. The first accounts used to pay for applications and companies collected practically $330 million greater than anticipated. The rosier fiscal outlook is largely on account of higher-than-expected oil, pure gasoline and coal costs.
The windfall raises questions: Is it greatest to place that extra cash into financial savings? Spend the money now on long-planned tasks? Make investments the cash?
We consider the windfall represents a possibility to place Wyoming to thrive over the long-term. The identical forces which have buoyed our economic system of late will inevitably undergo one other downturn, leading to much less income to pay for presidency companies. But when we plan correctly, we are able to make the most of our success now to safe a greater future.
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Our state’s political technique has typically been to maintain taxes low. However there’s extra to governing than that. What we must always actually be asking is: What can we do now to make tomorrow higher than at this time?
Listed here are a number of concepts. Let’s put money into our journey trade with a particular goal – how can we encourage vacationers to spend a number of further days right here after their go to to Yellowstone or fishing journey alongside the North Platte? What can we accomplish that a household that travels to Jackson stays in Kemmerer afterward to discover that neighborhood’s wonderful trove of fossils?
Now can also be the time to put money into ahead pondering concepts inside our training system in order that we’re making ready our younger folks for the roles that might be in demand over the approaching many years. What can we do to assist our neighborhood faculties and the College of Wyoming in order that younger folks select to remain right here for his or her school diploma?
It’s not unusual in our state to listen to the chorus: Wyoming is what America was. Whereas we perceive the very human impulse to pine for the halcyon days, it’s not attainable to maneuver ahead if we’re all the time wanting again. We encourage the Legislature to embark on the upcoming session with imaginative and prescient and braveness. We have now an actual alternative to raised place Wyoming for the long run. Now could be the time to make the most of it.
The opinions of the Casper Star-Tribune Editorial Board characterize the views of a majority of its members. Not all members will essentially agree on all elements of a printed editorial.