How Opal is run
Opal spent $263,000 in the year to June 30, 2024, about $4,109 per resident.
What stands out about how Opal is run
Read from the town’s budget, meetings and records. The page puts what stands out first.
The typical homeowner pays $340 a year
Every local property tax on the home: town, schools and county. About 0.32% of the home’s value, vs 0.57% across Wyoming.
Typical yearly bill next door and statewide
The Housing page’s calculator splits a monthly payment into loan, tax and insurance at Opal’s rate.
Can I afford it? →The median bill homeowners report to the Census survey (bills of $10,000+ are reported as “$10,000+”). The effective rate is that bill ÷ the median home value: a rough guide, not the official tax rate. In a town this small the estimate has a wide margin.
About $4,109 per resident a year, or $11.26 a day
The biggest line: administration & buildings, at 57% of spending.
Thank you for being a neighbor
Lincoln County School District 1
Opal’s K–12 school district, shared with Diamondville, Kemmerer. It’s its own government, with a budget separate from the town’s.
Of the $20,977 per pupil, $11,836 goes to the classroom (teachers, aides, supplies); the rest to buses, buildings, counselors and administration. Building projects and debt payments aren’t in the per-pupil figure.
Wyoming districts overall: 39% local, 45% state, 16% federal.
School year 2023–24. Census Bureau school finance survey.
Per resident, spending is up 156% since 2022
Spending per resident, by fiscal year. Prices rose too: about 4% a year in 2022–2024.
Spending per resident by year
* A Census Bureau estimate for that year (the town didn’t report most of its figures).
Who’s in charge in Opal
Local officials aren’t in the public records we use for Opal yet. Neighbors can add them.
0 full-time staff
On the payroll in March 2022.
By department full-time, plus part-time
Pay is March payroll times twelve, so it’s approximate. Part-timers count half in the bar lengths.
From town hall to Washington
Every level of government that speaks for Opal.
- 1Your cityMayor & councilLocal officials aren’t on record yet.
- 2Wyoming HouseState representatives
- 3Wyoming SenateState senator
- 4GovernorStatewide
- 5U.S. HouseYour representative in Congress
- 6U.S. SenateBoth represent all of Wyoming
Democrat · Republican · other or independent. Tap a name for their official page.
Reach Opal’s government
Numbers and hours come from neighbors and the town’s own site (the Handbook). A new one goes live once two neighbors confirm it.
Questions about how Opal is run?
Neighbors who’ve been to the meetings can help.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Budget and staff: U.S. Census Bureau, Census of Governments and Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances and the Annual Survey of Public Employment & Payroll. School district: Census school finance survey. Property tax: Census American Community Survey, 5-year estimates. Representatives: Open States, the Census and congress-legislators.