Cheyenne City Council Rejects $10 Million Stormwater Reserve Proposal
The memory of August 1, 1985—when a catastrophic flood left 12 people dead, injured 70 others, and caused more than $61 million in damages—still exists. An 8-2 vote by the Cheyenne City Council this week defeated a resolution that would have created a system to allocate up to $10 million from the municipality’s general fund reserves toward stormwater infrastructure.
The defeated measure, sponsored by Councilwoman Michelle Aldrich, aimed to establish a formal mechanism for transferring excess general fund balances into an existing stormwater account. Under the proposal, these transfers would have triggered only when city reserves exceeded 365 days of operating expenditures. Cheyenne’s current financial policy requires a minimum cushion of 120 days. Based on her most recent conversation with City Treasurer Robin Lockman, Aldrich mentioned that the municipality held roughly 365 days’ worth of operating expenditures in reserve.
“Since the flood of ‘85, quite honestly, we’ve had some drainage issues in our community that have been challenging, to say the least,” Aldrich said. City Engineer Tom Cobb calculates that fixing all of the community’s stormwater requirements at once would demand approximately $60 million, according to her remarks.
Weighing Financial Optics Against Transparency Concerns
The debate laid bare a fundamental philosophical split among city leaders regarding public funds and fiscal optics. Aldrich argued that stashing away funds for retention ponds and drainage maintenance sends a vital message to residents.
“I think it is really the optics of showing good faith, that we have skin in the game and that we recognize this is a public safety issue, and that we’re doing our due diligence with what we’re required to do statutorily,” Aldrich said.
Opponents, however, worried about the creation of isolated pools of money. Councilman Tom Segrave supported the intent behind the proposal, but opposed creating a separate account for stormwater funds.
“I believe the intent of this is noble,” Segrave said, “but as mentioned, the state Legislature has a tendency to create — the term I’ve heard is — coffee cans of money for little projects around the state, and it gets very confusing to the public where money is stashed and where it’s not.” Segrave pointed out that distinct accounts can also complicate matters for citizens trying to track the location and utilization of public tax dollars.
A Rocky Road for Stormwater Funding
In December 2024, city officials approved a stormwater runoff management fee. It would have charged property owners 24 cents per 100 square feet of hard surface area. Local business owner Brian Tyrrell initiated a lawsuit against that charge, contending at the time that the assessment was unconstitutional. On March 23, City Council members voted 7-3 to scrap the fee prior to its implementation.
City Attorney John Brodie stated during an Oct. 20 Finance Committee session that his department collaborated with the city Treasurer’s Office and the measure’s sponsor, Councilwoman Michelle Aldrich, to formulate the operational details of the resolution, which relies on a stormwater account established nearly two years prior. The resolution had also failed during the council’s Finance Committee meeting Oct. 20, meaning the committee brought no recommendation to the full council.
In the end, only Aldrich and Councilman Jeff White voted in favor of the measure.
