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Sales tax will help fund parks and rec maintenance

Stein

The public came out in force to support a half-cent sales tax reauthorization to fund parks and recreation maintenance and new construction projects.

The question passed with 69 percent majority: 2,725 “yes” votes to 1,197 “no” votes.

The tax initially was passed in 1999 to pay for the Durango Community Recreation Center and parts of the Animas River Trail, and it does not expire until 2019. With the renewal, it will be extended through 2039.

Now the sales tax can be used to fund a wider array of projects, including maintenance, recreation facilities, trails, parks, city trees and bicycle and pedestrian improvements.

Ellen Stein, who worked with the Citizens to Keep Durango Healthy committee, was elated with the outcome.

“It’s a great response. It really suggests recreation is our identity,” she said.

Now that voters have placed a seal of approval on the tax extension, it ensures the city will have the funding for some of the projects that are part of the city’s master and maintenance for facilities, said Cathy Metz, director of parks and recreation.

“We have a lot of things we would like to pursue,” said Sandy Burke, chairwoman of Citizens to Keep Durango Healthy.

Some of these projects could include building river put-ins, new playgrounds, hard and soft surface trails and potentially facilities at Lake Nighthorse, she said.

Some money from the sales tax also could be used for improvements at the Mason Center on 12th Street. That potential will be evaluated as part of a city-wide facilities plan, Metz said.

About a third of the sales-tax money is needed to help fund the maintenance of the existing parks and recreation facilities, Councilor Keith Brant said at a previous meeting.

Without the continuation of the sales tax, the decrease in revenue could have put pressure on the city’s general fund in the future, Burke said.

mshinn@durangoherald.com

Apr 7, 2015
White and Marbury return


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