As the Durango community continues to grow and thrive, one essential truth remains: Public safety must grow with it. At the heart of that safety is the Durango Fire Protection District, whose dedicated first responders are on call 24/7 – responding not just to fires, but to medical emergencies, traffic accidents, natural disasters and more.
DFPD is at a financial crossroads. Our community must choose to invest in the fire and emergency services we rely on or potentially risk a decline in service quality. I encourage Durango voters to support the proposed mill levy as a necessary investment in public safety, not as a tax burden.
Why Now?
DFPD is funded primarily through property taxes from the city of Durango contract and the District. The only funding options available to us as a Special District are sales tax and property tax. There is no third option – no state subsidy, no federal grant program that can sustainably fund day-to-day operations, personnel or long-term capital needs. Property tax is the most stable and equitable local funding option available. Durango City Council and the DFPD Board of Directors agree: If we are going to ask voters for increased funding, it should be through a property tax mill levy. It’s the responsible choice, and it aligns with long-term fiscal sustainability and equity.
Property tax is not a regressive tax. Unlike sales tax, which takes a proportionally larger share from lower-income residents, property tax is based on asset value and more fairly distributes the funding burden across the community. It ensures that everyone pays their fair share based on what they own, not what they spend.
What does the mill levy support?
Increased funding would allow DFPD to keep pace with Durango’s growth, something it’s struggling to do under the current state-legislated property tax assessment rate changes over the next three years. Call volumes have increased dramatically over the past decade. More residents, visitors and development mean more demands on fire and emergency services.
Without additional revenue, DFPD will fall further behind in meeting the demand for service placed on us by the community. This doesn’t just affect catastrophic emergencies – it also affects day-to-day medical calls, wildfire response, hazardous-material incidents and more. Every minute counts in an emergency, and underfunding fire protection compromises that response.
The 5.25% growth cap: a restriction that hurts
Alongside the mill levy, we are asking voters in the District to approve a waiver of a new 5.25% growth cap that takes effect in 2026. This is not a tax increase and does not raise the mill levy. It allows DFPD to retain revenue that comes from natural increases in property values beyond the 5.25% cap.
This cap is a recent, restrictive policy that handcuffs local governments – even when voters have already approved funding through the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. Without this waiver, the district will be forced to give up legally collected property tax revenue, even in years when growth increases our revenue.
The waiver does not override TABOR; it complements it. TABOR already gives voters control over tax increases. The 5.25% cap creates an artificial ceiling on revenue growth, even if those increases come from market-driven property values – not from any increase in the mill levy itself.
In short: this is about allowing the district to ride the natural ebbs and flows of property tax revenue – taking in more during growth years to buffer the impact of leaner ones, without being forced into painful service cuts when revenue is artificially restricted.
A safer future, together
Durango is a community that values its people, its sense of place and its emergency services. Supporting the mill levy increase and the growth cap waiver is not about politics; it’s about viability, fairness and safety.
Karen Barger is board president of Durango Fire Protection District.
