Cheyenne Mayoral Candidate Opposes 7th Penny Tax

Cheyenne Mayoral candidate Marian Orr says she opposes a proposed seventh penny tax to fund the building of the Children's Museum of Cheyenne.

Supporters of the proposal have enough signatures on a petition to get the tax before the voters, not as a sixth-penny tax, but as a rarely used seventh penny tax.

If approved by voters the quarter-cent tax would remain in effect for four years.

Supporters of the museum have raised about $3 million of the estimated $21 million needed to build the facility. They had originally planned to raise the money through private donations, but say the state's economic downturn has made it necessary to ask voters to approve the tax.

Museum supporters say the facility would not only be an educational benefit to local children, but would draw visitors to Cheyenne, in turn generating tax revenues.

Orr says of the project "the last thing we need is a new tax--especially for one that funds what was supposed to be a private, non profit entity."

Orr's opponent for Mayor in November is Amy Surdam, who is also President of the Children's Museum Board.

The Children's Museum tax proposal will appear on the Nov. 8 election ballot. The current plans call for the museum to be located in the downtown Cheyenne property commonly known as "the hole."

However, Stephanie White has offered two acres she owns near the Cheyenne Ice and Events Center as a possible location for the museum. The museum board is scheduled to consider that proposal on Sept. 14.