My sympathies. Several friends of mine who were in the Legislature have told me that things have gotten absolutely nutty I should note they are mostly old school conservatives who warn that we are in for some very difficult years.
And UW is squarely in their crosshairs.
To give the tax breaks that they want to give, they will be looking for budget reductions everywhere. When they reduce property taxes (which will mostly benefit the rich guys in Jackson on a straight dollar for dollar basis, but I digress), they will have to backfill local services and, depending on what the Supreme Court does on school funding, they will likely have some more work to do to fully fund education per the Constitution. Schools and local governments are the beneficiaries of property taxes - not state coffers. While the new Legislature is salivating to cut taxes and spending, they can appreciate that not backfilling local governments will mean reduced core services in things like road maintenance, EMS, primary health care, senior services, sewer and water service, snow removal, fire departments, curb and gutter replacement/maintenance, recreational services and the like (especially where cities, towns and counties have not been able to pass mill levees for districts to support them). Lost or diminished services will net them a very short time in Cheyenne if they don't backfill with state funds. They know that. They also know that other spending is likely to be significantly elevated, including the Emergency (wild) Fire Suppression Account, Highway funding, Medicaid, etc.
So, free cash is going to be at a premium...and UW is a prime target. I've said before on this board that UW should've started preparing for this eventually long ago and weaned itself from the state block grant...but that would require innovation, excellence, and an Entreprenurial mindset (all which are in very short supply in Old Main and the athletics complex). By 2026, UW and D1 sports will be in the proverbial soup. I'd venture a guess that Tom's letter, while certainly tied to the Settlement, NIL, and the like, was just as much or more about pending state budget cuts than anything else.