Casper and Natrona County officials are understandably concerned about the prospects for the optional 1-cent sales tax, which will again be on the general election ballot in November 2010.

We like how the city and county are taking a different approach to the issue than they have in the past.

Although Natrona County voters have approved every optional 1-cent tax measure since 1974, and there is a strong record of using the revenue for necessary projects, the last one passed in 2006 with only 54 percent of the voters supporting it. And that was with no organized opposition to the tax.

While approving a Casper College bond issue in 2008, voters rejected a sales tax increase for a new county public library. Whenever there's an economic downturn such as the one we've experienced for the past year, support for tax measures often dwindles.

Casper City Council officials are taking the right action by acknowledging their concerns and stressing how important the optional 1-cent sales tax is to the city and what would happen to the budget if it's rejected next year.

City Manager Tom Forslund said not having a 1-cent optional tax means water rates would increase, and street repairs would all but stop. We doubt Casper residents would like either of those possibilities to become reality, and would much prefer continuing to pay an extra penny sales tax.

If voters had rejected the optional tax in 2006, it would have had a major negative impact on municipal and county budgets. Casper, which receives the majority of the tax revenue, expected it to raise $16 million during this year out of a total budget of $150 million.

As it is, Casper's portion of the statewide 4-cent sales tax is off by more than 28 percent, and the optional 1-cent money is down 21 percent from what the council budgeted.

Officials are emphasizing how the public can get involved in recommending ways to use the money generated by the tax that will be on the ballot next year. If there's early, strong countywide support for worthy projects, it should make passage of the tax easier.

Part of the pitch to voters will include an outreach effort using city and county Web sites, town hall-style meetings that will use electronic voting so participants can show real-time support for ideas, and online voting on different initiatives.

"If things don't change, our tax is in jeopardy because it gives the public the opportunity to express frustration," Forslund told the Natrona County commissioners last month. "We're saying, 'How do you want your tax money spent? We're not going to tell you, you're going to tell us.' We're pledging to follow that."

That should temper any complaints about how the money has been previously spent, and put the focus on the next four years, where it belongs. But the history of the tax shows that the 1-cent optional tax has greatly benefited the city. Facilities that were either constructed or completely renovated with significant investment from the optional tax include Casper's fire stations and police station, the Casper Recreation Center, Casper City Hall, Nicolaysen Art Museum, Metro Animal Shelter and the Central Wyoming Senior Center, to name just a few.

We encourage residents to become involved in the process to select the next projects the optional 1-cent tax will fund.