A check for more than

$1.62 million will be cut by Sublette County to

Badger Daylighting for vehicles incorrectly licensed.

For the same reason, the State of Wyoming

will also pay more than $5.2 million.

Sublette County Commissioners approved

the refund at the Oct. 14 meeting but Badger

Daylighting isn’t off the hook. The company

will owe other states, in most cases, more

money. All five commissioners were in attendance

at the meeting including Chairman

David Burnett, Joel Bousman, Tom Noble,

Mack Rawhouser and Doug Vickrey.

County Treasurer Emily Paravicini said

Badger Daylighting had reported an error

and requested a refund. Uncomfortable with

granting the refund, she referred the decision

to the Wyoming Department of Revenue. That

initiated an audit that went back the maximum

allowed three years.

Following the audit, the Department of

Revenue ruled the company has paid sales

tax on all new vehicles and licensed them in

Sublette County. The audit determined Badger

Daylighting has one facility and only one to

three of the vehicles were located in Wyoming

or Sublette County.

company were paid in Sublette County.

“Most of the time they never crossed into

the state’s borders,” Paravicini said.

Many of the trucks are large hydrovac

trucks and the taxes on one truck at Sublette

County’s 4-percent sales tax rate could

be $5,000, Paravicini said. She said in some

months as many as 10 new trucks were purchased,

sales taxes were paid and licensed in

Sublette County.

That means a truck in Texas could have

Sublette County license plates.

The total paid over the past three years was

$6.084 million. The county receives 31 percent

and the state received the remainder.

The Department of Revenue ruled the

money must be returned, Paravicini said. The

company has already received three payments

of $285,039 because arrangements were

made to repay the money over five years.

Once the determination was made, the Department

of Revenue notified the other states

where the trucks should have been licensed.

Almost all have much higher sales taxes than

Sublette County’s 4 percent.

Once other states started charging Badger

Daylighting, the company requested a full

refund rather than the five-year repayment

plan. The State of Wyoming agreed and refunded

the state’s portion as well as the county’s

portion.

Paravicini said the state gave Sublette

County the option to reimburse the state

monthly over the next five years or all at

once.

County Clerk Carrie Long said the funds

would come from the reserve account set

aside for tax refunds. The balance in the account

is about $1.2 million.

Commissioners made a motion to refund

the money to the state in full immediately.

A budget amendment will be required by the

June 30, 2020, end of the fiscal year to add to

the reserve account.

“It bit them hard,” Paravicini said. “All of

these other states want their money and some

have taxes as high as 16 percent.”

Moving forward, staff at the county treasurer’s

office and county clerk’s office will

require a vehicle identification number check

verified by a Sublette County Sheriff’s Deputy

– especially for companies.

“It’s a mess,” Paravicini said.