Wyoming County Treasurers Association Lander, Wyoming May 21 23, 2007

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1 Wyoming County Treasurers Association Lander, Wyoming May 21 23, 2007 Monday, May 21, :00 Icebreaker The Cowfish Restaurant Sponsored by Coastal Securities, Jim Patterson Afterwards a bus provided by Wyoming Financial Securities Inc, Todd Bishop took whoever wanted to go, to The Casino in Riverton. Tuesday, May 22, :00 Call to Order After the Pledge of Allegiance Mick Wolfe, Mayor of Lander welcomed us to Lander. The announcements included the introduction of two new Treasurers to our Association. Donna Baur of Teton County and Keri Thompson of Niobrara County. We were also reminded of the group picture being taken at 12:30. State Treasurers Office Michael Walden-Newman of The State Treasurers Office offered Joe Meyers regrets for not being able to attend. He talked about the states investment portfolio and some changes that will be made in the future. Karla Semler, Investment Financial Manager and Keenan Hendon, Investment Accountant of WYOSTAR gave a presentation on the history, rules and historical rates of WYOSTAR. A list of participants was passed out which has grown from three participants in 1987 to over 200 today. *Tom Doyle showed up at 9:25!! Break sponsored by First Interstate Bank, Richard Roller. Real Estate Tax Service Representatives Q&A Kelly Renfrow of Wells Fargo Real Estate Tax Services,LLC and Greg Curtis of First American Tax Service discussed this year s payment and were open to any questions. Security & Investment Brokers Q&A Chas Kipp Multibank Securities Rene Molina Brookstreet Investments Jim Patterson Coastal Securities Don Leek Seattle Northwest All representatives gave a brief talk on their investment policies and strategies. They invited us to call them and were open to any questions.

2 Lunch sponsored by Bank of the West, Bryan Neely Wyoming Department of Audit David Zamora, Principal Auditor and Margaret Cranney, Specialist for State and Local Government gave a presentation of the Public Funds Division and audit department. They started with a brief history and continued with their mission statement. They then gave a very informative presentation on the Abstract. They talked about the online reporting, links for revenue and expenditures information and the importance and purpose of the abstract. The four main reasons are to show cost of maintaining government, maintaining county government, federal and state legislature for distribution of funds and to reconcile with county boards, special districts, towns and CPA audits. Wyoming State Auditor s Office Carolyn Teter, Chief Administrative Services talked about the web-based system that will be put in place in the near future. It could be a rough start but will be more efficient in the end. Discussion was held on the EFT payments. They are not mandated by the state. You also have a choice on whether you want all payments to come through your office or go directly to the different agencies. We expressed concern over the limited information online for EFT payments. The descriptions don t really help. Carolyn said the new system would allow for more information. Payments will also be run real time, twice a week. The new system will go live July 8 th, The new administration wants new building blocks put in place focusing on partnership building, flexibility and customer service. Carolyn Teters direct line is and you can call for help with EFT payments any time and she will work with Department of Audit and Agencies to gets things worked out. Wyoming Department of Transportation Jim O connor, Bob Stauffacher and staff were present to discuss several subjects. Staff included Lacey Bruckner and Steve Shay with compliance. Shannon Miller, Jody Brown, Steve Lund and Debbie Herrera with DOT. Jim discussed the problems in testing Verisol in Wyoming caused by the fact Wyoming does not keep track of how many insurance providers are in the state. USAA, State Farm and Geico have been working with state. The first to use Verisol will be the Highway Patrol on accidents only to start with and then work into all law enforcement agencies. They are supposed to go live in July or August. Florida is the number one state using and Wyoming will be number two once we are up and running. Shannon and Debbie talked about license plate types coming up and coding. They also passed out and discussed a new body code list. Senate File 8 will be in effect July 1,

3 2007. The transfer may be made to a like vehicle with the same owner. A $6.00 charge for new tabs should be charged. The code to use will be SW for plate swap. A sample EMT application was passed out and discussion was held on whom the statement of eligibility should come from. Some thought it should be done similar to the fire fighter plate, with the supervisors writing the letter. The sample letter with the application came from The Department of Health. Applicant must provide completed application, letter of certification and copy of EMT card. The numbers will be issued consecutively. No prestige EMT plates will be made. The EMT plate can be a car, truck or motorcycle. The code to be used is ET. The fee will be $30.00 payable to the department of transportation. Applications can be sent in 30 days prior to the July 1 st start date. The UW plate will be available January 1 st, 2008 with a code of WA to be used when issuing. Applications can be made in December As of now no county prefix will be on plates. Department is getting pressure to change this so there will be more low numbers for each county. The application will be sent to UW with $ UW will check eligibility and keep $ and forward application and $30.00 to department to issue plate and send to us. It is also unknown at this time if prestige UW plates will be allowed. You can get motorcycle but no multipurpose plates will be made. The MPV plates will be available January 1 st, We will use a V in the space where you would put M for motorcycle. There will be no prestige MPV plates. Samples of new plates were given to each county. The department will send comments and try to finalize procedures soon for these new plates. The 2009 issue plate will have five spaces but because of some of the letters this will not be allowed on prestige plates. 410 s will also be changing from four to three copies as soon as the supply now is depleted. Steve will start delivering 2009 plates any where from August to October. You can actually start issuing in February 2008 if customer is willing to pay for 23 months of fees. Bob informed us that the 2009 Demo and DLR tags will have red lettering or markings to help law enforcement identify easier. The Department is trying to take a proactive approach when it comes to MPV s. Bob is offering to put on training in each county for treasurers, clerks and law enforcement in August or September. They will also put out lots of PSA s and work closely with the Highway Patrol. Information he passed out showed pictures of some types of multipurpose vehicles we might encounter and whether they are to be licensed. DOT also came up with a Multipurpose Vehicle Information Sheet that includes laws and requirements on equipment needed on vehicles to comply with regulations. It was discussed that the owners check off the list and keep with the vehicles. We as an association did not think this was the best idea. The general consensus is it is ultimately the owner s responsibility to be legal and law enforcements job to enforce this. We could pass information to owners and then it would be up to them.

4 The question was asked what each county does when transferring from car to truck or switching counties about the $8.00 charge. Most don t charge in these situations but only if a customer comes in before renewal time and wants to switch counties then they charge. Break sponsored by Brookstreet Investments, Rene Molina. Wyoming Department of Revenue Dan Noble and Terri Lucero were present to discuss several issues. Terri has a new position in Education and Taxability. You can call her with questions as well as Dan. Issues they are dealing with right now are the payment plans and the dealers collecting sales tax. Some used car dealers are advertising the payment plan and it is lots of extra work for DOR. Another problem is do we license if not all tax is paid. Do we as an association want the dealers to collect tax? Joy brought up some dealers collect and finance the tax and then give to us already. Scott questioned if dealers might not be very accurate and revenue could be lost. Should motorcycle and auto dealers be treated different? Motor vehicles are allowed to leave state if not intending to license here but a motorcycle the tax must be collected at the point of sale at this time. It is now all a legislative issue. There is an auto dealers meeting next month on who should collect. About ¾ of other states the dealers collect. Dan will raise issues and we need to advocate what we want to happen. Dan also discussed municipal tax, storage liens, raffles and farm equipment exemptions. Basically if something is titled it is not exempt. Example ATV not exempt, skid steer if used exclusively for agricultural purposes would be exempt. Anything that can be adapted for farm use and not titled could be exempt. Adjourned about 5:10pm. Cocktail hour was from 6 to 7pm with the banquet following. Bear Stearns, Chet Cross sponsored the banquet, which was delicious and Multibank Securities, Chas Kipp the cocktails. A performance by Lander Valley High School Jazz Band sponsored by Wells Fargo Real Estate, Kelly Renfro was excellent.

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