State gives Jackson $1M to help with slide costs

The state of Wyoming is providing $1 million to the town of Jackson to help cover some of the damage done by a sliding hillside.

The town had applied to the State Lands and Investment Board for a $6.35 million emergency grant to help cover some of the $7.5 million in expected costs to stabilize the hillside.

But the state board voted Thursday to give the town a fraction of that sum.

Board staffers said in a report that only the exposed water and sewer lines that are temporarily servicing the neighborhood on the butte above the slide qualify as emergencies and warrant immediate funding.

Jackson Mayor Mark Barron tells the Jackson Hole News & Guide that the town plans to ask the state for more money