Albany County homeowners urged to apply early for property-tax exemptions

Albany County homeowners who want the 2026 Property Tax Exemption for Homeowners must apply, and the county’s property-tax refund applications are open through Oct. 12 at the Albany County Treasurer’s Office in the Albany County Courthouse, 525 E Grand Avenue in Laramie. The county says the homeowner exemption began in tax year 2025, when all single-family residential structures received it automatically, but that automatic treatment does not carry over into 2026.

Albany County says it currently has seven forms of tax relief, and the rules are not the same for each one. The Property Tax Exemption for Long Term Homeowners also began in tax year 2025, and eligibility includes that the owner or the owner’s spouse must be 65 years of age or older. The county also lists a Property Tax Exemption on Residential Property that is new for tax year 2024 and is automatically applied to qualifying properties. Homeowners who assume one exemption works like another can miss the benefit entirely.

The county’s Property Tax Refund program adds another deadline to the calendar. The State of Wyoming funded that refund for 2026, with the money applied toward 2025 taxes, and the application deadline was June 1, 2026. Albany County then opened its own county property tax refund applications July 1, 2026, and those filings run through Oct. 12, 2026 through the Treasurer’s Office. For homeowners still looking for relief this year, that is the deadline that matters now.

Albany County’s assessor page says the office’s constitutional duty is to list, locate and value all property in the county, a job that sits at the center of how exemptions and refunds are processed. The county’s 2024 town hall handout shows Assessor Chelsie Mathews was already talking with residents about property-tax bills and 2024 sponsored bills tied to property tax, and the county’s Estimated Tax Calculator page was last updated Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. Those details point to a system that is still shifting, with different programs, different rules and different filing dates.

For Albany County households watching their bills in Laramie and beyond, the practical step is simple: check which exemption fits, make sure the paperwork reaches the right county office, and do it before the Oct. 12 refund window closes.