Albany County commissioners approve salaries, airport fund transfer, fire radio grant

Albany County commissioners moved to strengthen rural fire response with a $60,000 homeland security grant for radios, a purchase aimed at helping volunteer crews from Big Laramie to WyCo stay connected when fires, storms or rescues break out far from town.

The board approved the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security award for volunteer fire departments for work running from Jan. 1, 2026, through Aug. 31, 2026. That matters in Albany County, where distance and weather can make communications as important as water on a brush fire. Albany County Emergency Management & Homeland Security says volunteers are vital to damage assessments, flood fight operations, evacuation assistance, light medical operations and basic first aid.

Albany County Fire District 1 lists six volunteer departments serving the county: Big Laramie, Centennial, Central, Tie Siding, Vedauwoo and WyCo. Better radios can help those departments coordinate faster when a structure fire starts near Centennial, a grass fire threatens ranchland near Tie Siding, or emergency crews need to split duties across the county’s wide rural stretches.

Commissioners also approved new salary schedules for elected officials, another decision with direct implications for county payroll and budgeting. The county publishes annual salary reports for employees and elected officials, and Wyoming law requires publication of each full-time employee’s and elected official’s name, position and current gross annual salary. Albany County’s 2024 salary data show the county had 142 employees and that its highest salary was $102,500.

The salary move comes as commissioners have been asking departments to hold budgets flat except for inflation, while also weighing 1%, 2% or 3% salary increases. That sets up a familiar balancing act for county government: keep pay structures clear enough to recruit and retain staff, while limiting pressure on taxpayers who fund the budget.

Commissioners also authorized a temporary $1.3 million federal airport funding transfer, a step that keeps airport money moving through the county’s books while the project proceeds under federal rules. For travelers and airport users, the practical effect is less about accounting language than whether the money continues to flow where it is needed without slowing work tied to the airport’s future.

Together, the three actions showed a county focused on essentials: pay for public offices, financing for airport work and radio coverage for the volunteer fire departments that protect outlying areas when seconds and signal strength both matter.