Are you a registered voter?
Are you a taxpayer?
In Sheridan County, the county tax districts, includes the College, School Districts 1, 2, and 3, the Fire Districts, and Improvement Districts.
Is the taxpayer well informed on what are the districts’ priorities and budget constraints? Have you seen the expenditures for these districts? Does the local news report what invoices were received each week regarding each of the districts? What agenda items are planned for each district? What public comments are reported on agenda items or recent invoices? Do district budgets balance? Are the budgets bloated or wasteful? What are the districts’ priorities? How are your elected representatives involved with the districts?
I am considering the following. Requesting data necessary to get a understanding of the accounting and the transactional flow of the taxpayers’ money. The purpose of this is to make the data available to anyone, to create a database, of the taxpayers' checkbook. For purposes of inquiry, I have requested data for fiscal year 2024 from the County, City of Sheridan, School District #2, and the Sheridan Recreation District. Eventually this would include, every agency with a taxpayer funded budget. Monthly data would be requested. Weekly data, including income and received invoices from the previous week will be requested.
I am requesting a shapefile for the precincts of Wyoming. As voters, we elect representatives for the tax districts. Presenting data and ideas to the public is useful; however, this requires access to the geometries of each county’s precincts which are, generally, provide by a shapefile. For an unknown reason, counties of Wyoming have decline to provide precinct shapefiles.
Regarding the question of data, a discrepancy, between what is possible, and what is prohibited exists. Can our local government, provide the above data, in a format conductive to processing it with a computer. If our government can do this, will it do so? If it cannot, why not? Shouldn’t the accountants be reviewing the records being requested? If the data exists, do the taxpayers have the right to inspect the revenue and expenditures of their money? A computer can be used to analyze records of transactions. If protocols leave taxpayers uninformed, we should improve the protocols. Do taxpayers agree, we should improve the protocols? Will, those we voted into office, agree to improve the protocols?
It is my observation that our government seems to favor, print formats, that restrict the public access to data.
I request this information, with the belief, that Sheridan County taxpayers should be much better informed.
I can be reach at nollroberts@gmail.com.
Join in on the dialog, contact sheridanclash@gmail.com.