Cost, construction type, and the labor package — Wyoming

Three separate per-unit dollar ceilings, not one Total Development Cost cap

WCDA does not publish a single Total Development Cost limit. Attachment A of the 2027 AHAP instead sets three distinct per-unit dollar tables that serve three different purposes -- a general underwriting cap on total project cost, a separate and lower cap on how much HOME/NHTF subsidy can go into any one unit, and a third, independently sized cap on eligible basis used to calculate the tax credit itself. All three vary by bedroom count, and two of the three also vary by whether the project has 24 units or fewer versus 25 units or more.

Developer and builder fees: a hard dollar ceiling on 9% deals that the 4% Bond section doesn't repeat

The general Developer & Builder Fees rule reads: "Developer fees will be limited to no more than 15% of development costs up to a maximum of $1,000,000.00 on 9% LIHTC Applications," with development costs defined narrowly (total project costs minus acquisition costs, off-site improvement costs, developer's fees, syndication costs, reserves, and consultant fees). The separate 4% Bond Awards section restates only the percentage -- "Developer fees will be limited to no more than 15% of net development costs" -- without repeating the $1,000,000 ceiling. Whether that omission means a 4% Non-Competitive Bond deal is genuinely uncapped in dollar terms, or whether the $1,000,000 figure is simply assumed to carry over, is not resolved by the text itself; confirm directly with WCDA before assuming either reading for a large 4% Bond deal.

Rehabilitation carries its own hard-cost floor, capped at 30% for cosmetic work

Rehabilitation projects must spend at least $30,000 per unit in actual hard costs on Life, Safety, Health, or Code Requirements items -- electrical, heating, roofing, foundation/structural, and major energy upgrades -- and that $30,000 figure specifically excludes General Requirements, Contractor Overhead, or Profit from the count. On the other side of the ledger, no more than 30% of total rehabilitation costs may go toward general property improvements that are not Life, Safety, Health, or Code items -- capping how much of a rehab budget can go to purely cosmetic work regardless of how large the $30,000 floor is exceeded.

Green building and energy efficiency: a scoring incentive, not a mandatory Threshold item

Unlike agencies that make a green-building certification a Threshold pass/fail requirement, Wyoming scores construction and energy-efficiency features under a competitive category -- Quality of Construction, "Construction/Energy Efficiency Standards Exceeded," worth up to 65 points -- rather than mandating them outright. Points are itemized: walk-up or townhome-style unit design (10 points), roofing with a warranty exceeding 30 years (5), siding with a warranty exceeding 30 years (5), windows at or below a .3 U-value (5), Energy Star lighting throughout (5), motion-controlled exterior lighting (5), Energy Star-rated appliances (5), ceiling fans (5), and up to 20 additional points for a formal certification -- 10 points for Energy Star Certification, 10 points for a HERS Rating at or below 100. Documentation of specs and/or products must accompany the application to receive any of these points.

This research did not find a mandatory statewide energy code, cold-climate construction standard, or required green-building certification anywhere in the AHAP's own text -- ordinary state and local building and energy codes would still apply as a baseline outside of WCDA's scoring incentives, and that baseline should be confirmed with the relevant local jurisdiction rather than assumed from the AHAP. A document WCDA itself hosts at its own domain, titled "Design Standards Manual for New Construction and Rehabilitation," cannot be used as a Wyoming source at all: its own text identifies it as the Arkansas Development Finance Authority's manual, referencing "ADFA," the "State of Arkansas," and an "ADFA Board Approved Date" of August 15, 2024. This appears to be a publishing mix-up on WCDA's website rather than an actual Wyoming design standard, and none of that document's figures (insulation R-values, mandatory Energy Star requirements, or anything else in it) should be treated as a Wyoming requirement.

Labor: Wyoming does have a state prevailing-wage law, but its own terms may not reach a private LIHTC job

Checked directly against the U.S. Department of Labor's own state prevailing-wage table rather than assumed from reputation: Wyoming is listed with a $100,000 contract-coverage threshold, and Wyoming is notably absent from DOL's own list of the 24 states with no state prevailing wage law at all (a list that does include several other states already documented in this library). Wyoming's law is the Wyoming Prevailing Wage Act of 1967, codified at W.S. 27-4-401 through 27-4-413, and it is still an active statute -- not a repealed one.

The Act's own definitions, however, are narrow. "Public works" "means all fixed works constructed for public use, whether or not done under public supervision or direction, or paid for wholly or in part out of public funds"; "public body" "means the state of Wyoming or any officer, board or commission of the state" -- a definition that does not on its face extend to cities, counties, or independent local authorities, let alone a privately owned rental development. Coverage under W.S. 27-4-403 attaches to workmen "employed by or on behalf of any public body engaged in the construction of public works," and the "construction" trigger applies to a public improvement "fairly estimated to cost" the statutory threshold or more. That threshold has moved over time -- from $5,000 in 1967, to $25,000 by 1979 -- and the current, DOL-confirmed figure is $100,000; an older, still-circulating compiled copy of the statute's text shows the superseded $25,000 figure, so a citation search can easily surface the wrong number.

This research found no provision in the Wyoming Prevailing Wage Act, the AHAP, or WCDA's compliance materials that extends the Act's own "public works"/"public body" coverage to an ordinary privately owned, privately contracted LIHTC rental development -- even one financed with WCDA (a state instrumentality) tax credits, HOME, or NHTF funds. That is a reasoned reading of the statute's own text, not a confirmed administrative position; confirm directly with WCDA or the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services' Labor Standards office before assuming Wyoming's own prevailing-wage law does, or does not, reach a specific deal.