Cheyenne Mayor Rick Kaysen says the city may consider a variety of fee increases for licenses and permits to make up for a revenue shortfall.

The mayor said Thursday the city faces a revenue shortfall of about $488,000 for fiscal year 2016 compared to projections, mostly because of slumping energy prices which have put a damper on the oil and natural gas industries in Laramie County. Fiscal year 2016 started on July 1, 2015.

Kaysen says he is also concerned about Governor Matt Mead's proposal to slash state money for local governments across the state by about half, although he adds that exactly what will happen with that proposal in the legislature--and what the final impact on money for Cheyenne will be--remain to be seen.

The mayor says the city has no ability under state law to increase taxation from current levels to help fund city government. He also says one thing that isn't being considered to meet the potential funding challenges faced by the city are layoffs of city employees, and he says he doesn't expect that to be considered based on current information.

But he says one thing the city can do would be to increase the fees for a variety of permits and licenses issued by the city. He says ''there is nothing wrong with doing that" as a possible means to generate more money. Kaysen says the situation is similar to that of a business that isn't taking in enough money and needs to look at ways to raise funds.

But he also says no decision on fee increases has been made yet.

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