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Gary Wilken for HD46
Campaign Phone
307-760-0732
I am running to support Public education, including UW, community colleges, trade schools,
I am running to support public lands, and access for public use.
I am running to support the constitutional right to manage our healthcare.
I do not support the 50% property tax reduction. Essential services will be crippled.
Yes, the state should backfill the loss of local revenue. Payment in lieu of taxes is part of what Albany County uses to pay bills, since so much of the county is tax exempt local, state and federal entities.
I oppose the sale or exchange of public lands. All citizens should be able to enjoy and use public lands.
The silos appoach to school funding where the teachers and educational staff are paid out of a large fund which results in a pay increase to teachers to retain them in the state is very helpful. We still have work to address activities, special program needs and administrative structure.
The use of public funds for social services is very important to the health and welfare of our citizens, particularly the young, elderly, and challenged citizens.
Facebook
www.facebook.com/p/Wright-4-Wyoming-61575377468269/
Campaign Phone
307-223-5686
Education: BS, MS, PhD electrical engineering, licensed Professional Engineer in Wyoming
Experience:
30 years military service
23 years teaching as an engineering faculty member at the University of Wyoming, including 6 years as Dean of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences. Recently retired as a full Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Skills: More than four decades of real-world leadership experience for both small and large organizations, managing people (as many as 300+ people), budgets (as much as $758 million), and efficiently achieving goals and objectives while balancing available resources.
Essential government services funded by property taxes cannot be allowed to wither and become ineffective due to loss of funding as a result of property tax reductions. While back-filling the losses incurred by cities and counties if property taxes continue to be reduced might have to done on a temporary basis, it can’t be a permanent solution. The voters much be made aware of the need for a reasonable level of property taxes, and convinced not to vote for an arbitrary reduction with little or no consideration to the unavoidable consequences.
In general, no I don't support that. There may be rare special circumstances that can be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, but overall I believe public lands should stay public, and they should be accessible to the public. Responsible use and stewardship of our public lands is something all citizens of Wyoming should expect and demand.
The level, as provided by recent re-calibration, appears appropriate. Public education requires adequate and appropriate funding, with sufficient budgeting flexibility given to local control. I believe that fine tuning/tweaking of the re-calibration legislation passed last session is needed, to allow administrators to allocate funding as needed, without budgetary micromanagement from the state. We must also look into the future, and act proactively rather than waiting to be forced by the courts to address any future funding imbalance.
There are certainly some social services that need public funds to ensure that a safety net exists for our most vulnerable members of the population. A combination of charitable giving and public funds seems to be the best approach. While a total reliance on charitable giving would be welcome and wonderful, that approach has proven to be insufficient over the years.
