The Durango city councilors and La Plata county commissioners are preparing to ask residents in May if they would raise taxes for a new airport terminal before putting it on the ballot.

A ballot question would likely ask voters to support building a new $85 million Durango-La Plata County Airport terminal on the east side of the runway.

The county and city have hired Federick Polls, a political campaign polling firm based in Virginia, to conduct a statistically valid survey of residents across the county and in Durango.

“It’s not a predictor. It’s a temperature taker,”Commissioner Julie Westendorff said.

The officials met Tuesday to give Keith Federick, the owner of the company, feedback on proposed questions and the timeline for completing the survey.

Pollsters plan to ask residents whether they would support a property-tax increase of by 85 cents to $1.25 per month for every $100,000 of home value.

The other option could be a sales-tax increase of a third of a cent on every dollar spent. This would raise sales tax in Durango from 7.9 percent to 8.22 percent, said Ron LeBlanc the city manager.

The survey assumes taxes would cover $40 million, and the Federal Aviation Administration and other agencies could cover the remaining cost.

The company will likely need to call almost every household in the county with residents who are likely to vote in a presidential election in order to survey a sizable sample, he said.

“When we get our polling model, we want it to look like the electorate,” Federick said.

The polling firm will survey 300 or 400 voters from May 7 through May 14. The results should be fairly accurate representation of countywide sentiment.

“We do come out very close to the way the election is going to come out,” he said.

Councilor Dick White suggested asking residents about whether another tax question on the ballot would impact how they would vote on an airport-terminal question.

“One of the most serious objections we’ve heard from people is what else is on the table ,” he said.

But ultimately, it was decided not to address the issue of multiple-tax increases because it would be too vague.

The county is planning to conduct a separate survey this summer about raising property taxes to support road and bridge maintenance, Westendorff said.

Officials have not decided when to place either tax question on the ballot.

mshinn@durangoherald.com