Local governments around Park County appear to be getting ready to ask voters for an additional $13.68 million in sales taxes.

In August, the Powell, Cody and Meeteetse councils and the Park County Commission are expected to vote on whether to ask the public for a 1 cent specific purpose tax. If approved by county voters during November’s general election, the 5th cent of sales tax would last until the $13.68 million is collected — which officials believe will take about two-and-a-half years.

All indications are that the local governments will decide to put the measure on the ballot. Park County Commission Chairman Tim French is the only elected official who’s said he’ll oppose sending the tax to voters.

An initial list of projects to be funded by the tax had totaled around $16.2 million, but representatives from the different entities pared that back at a Thursday meeting in Cody.

“I want it to be paid off in two years so the public will see that we’re not trying to just get our hands on money to spend it,” Commissioner Bucky Hall said of his rationale. “I mean, we’re not going to get any more money from the state for a really long time — especially the cities, but the counties, too. Once that hits home, it’d be nice if we haven’t dug ourselves into a deep hole.”

The proposal would divide the $13.68 million this way:

“What we’ve told everybody all along is the county’s still floating along fairly well. It’s going to get tougher for us, but the municipalities are the one that really needs it — and that’s what’s showing in what we’re doing,” Commissioner Joe Tilden said of the split.

At an earlier meeting, it had been suggested that the city of Powell trim its initial $4 million ask for Absaroka Street. However, Powell ultimately upped its request to $4.25 million, after an engineering firm told the city that’s a more realistic projection.

At a July 5 Powell City Council meeting, Mayor Don Hillman had suggested that Powell should either pursue the full $4.25 million through the tax or take it completely off the table. If the funding from the 1 cent tax was less than the full cost, it would mean the rest of the project would have to be paid for with the city’s general fund and reserves, the mayor said.

“I’m not willing to gamble with our reserves; it is a big enough gamble as it is anyway,” Hillman said. “We took $250,000 from reserves this year to balance the budget and I don’t want to play games with that.”

He said next year’s budget may be even tighter and added that he didn’t think extra funding for Absaroka Street “will make or break how people vote” on the tax.

Government leaders had preferred to seek a general purpose 1 cent tax, which would have lasted four years and could have been used more freely, but a survey of Park County residents indicated the public was, at best, split on that idea. The survey showed voters were more open to a specific purpose tax.

“This is what folks told us they’d be more inclined to support and so that’s what we are presenting,” said Cody Mayor Nancy Tia Brown.

At the July 5 Powell City Council meeting, Councilman John Wetzel suggested moving forward with a tax proposal since the survey was already paid for — at a cost of $13,464.21 shared between Powell, Cody, Meeteetse and Park County.

Absaroka Street rated as the higher of Powell’s priorities on the survey — a few points above upgrades to Division Street, Avenues A, B, C and D and Seventh Street.

“It comes down to logic to listen to what the survey said,” Wetzel said.

Hillman had expressed some reservations about switching from a general option to a specific purpose tax, but said he felt good about the change after Thursday’s meeting.

“Everybody seemed very satisfied with that” list of projects, Hillman said. “And so now all we have to do is convince the public.”

Powell City Administrator Zane Logan and Hillman have both said they’d prefer to use Powell’s share of the tax to pad the endowment that supports the Powell Aquatic Center’s operations, but Cody and county leaders and survey respondents were unenthiastic about that idea.

Absaroka Street, which has a heavy traffic load, has long been identified by the city as needing to be widened.

“I think Absaroka Street should be considered a county project because it is a highway and goes through town,” Logan said at the council meeting. “It is a north-south route, splitting the town in half and it is something for the whole region.”

Powell City Councilman Eric Paul said he hadn’t heard any feedback from the community regarding the 1 cent tax.

“I don’t know if that is good or bad,” Paul said.

Tilden, meanwhile, said he thinks the tax “stands a pretty good chance of passing.”

“People, I believe, are starting to realize that things are going to get real tight,” he said.