There was lots to count in 2024. From the number of babies born and the number of parking tickets doled out, to the number of inmates in the jail on its busiest day and the number of pets adopted from the humane society.
The Durango Herald has highlighted some of the numbers that tell the story of last year.
Durango Public Library’s most popular adult fiction book was checked out 446 times, in all formats last year.
“The Women,” by Kristin Hannah, released in February, spent about 9,000 days in readers’ hands, said Assistant Library Director Daisy Grice. It was the most popular item by a wide margin, she said, likely because of its popularity in book groups.
The most popular nonfiction book was checked out 132 times.
“A walk in the park,” Kevin Fedarko’s May release detailing misadventure in the Grand Canyon, spent about 2,800 days total checked out in all its formats. The library cohosted Fedarko in June, along with Maria’s Bookshop, which likely boosted the popularity of the book.
Air travel through Durango-La Plata County Airport is growing and it’s no secret. The airport is continuing Phase 1B of its terminal expansion project this year to accommodate long-term projected growth.
The airport was on a consistent roll with hitting new heights of passenger traffic every-single month last year.
DRO Aviation Director Tony Vicari said 455,252 passengers traveled through the airport in 2024 through November. Despite December data still being finalized, the airport has already broken a new annual record for passenger traffic – a feat it also celebrated at the close of 2023.
“Though not yet finalized, I am anticipating the final 2024 passenger count will land between 494,000-503,000,” he said.
He said from January through November last year:
- 7,244 commercial airline flights took off from or landed at DRO.
- Passenger traffic broke monthly records for each month through November in 2024. Vicari said he expects December 2024 to break that month’s record as well.
- Holiday air travel at DRO also likely broke records for Thanksgiving and Christmas, although full historical data is unavailable.
- Passenger traffic the week of Thanksgiving 2024 was up 19% over 2023.
- Pre-Christmas passenger traffic was up 24% over 2024. Post-Christmas traffic data is still being finalized.
- A total of 61,420 vehicles exited airport parking lots in 2024, an increase of nearly 15% from 2023.
- The days rental cars were contracted out rose 13% through November 2024 compared to 2023.
On July 16, the La Plata County jail held 206 people, reaching the height of its census for the year.
That peak caused La Plata County Sheriff Sean Smith to inform the city of Durango that he would no longer house inmates solely on municipal charges. The notification prompted a cascade of events and threats, which still have yet to be resolved.
Smith has said the jail’s target maximum census is 170 inmates, and he can properly hold up to 195 people based on jail classification standards.
In the summer of 2024, the city of Durango increased its records request fees from $30 per hour to $40 per hour, keeping the first hour devoted to responding to requests free of charge. The change came due to a notable increase in requests from 2022 through the first half of 2024.
City Clerk Faye Harmer said in July requests were not only increasing in numbers but in complexity, and the more complex a request, the more staff time and resources are spent on it, thus the raised hourly fees.
She said that if records requests kept their pace through the end of 2024, the city would receive about 525 requests by the year’s end. Her prediction wasn’t too far off.
The city received 496 records requests in 2024, a 9% increase from 455 records requests in 2023, she said. Records requests increased by 41% in 2023 from 322 requests in 2022.
In 2024, Durango High School students achieved the highest pass rate in Advanced Placement exams for DHS in the past five years, Karla Sluis, spokeswoman for Durango School District 9-R, said.
Five hundred thirty-five students participated in 980 exams in 2024, she said. Eighty percent, or 428 students, earned a qualifying score for college credit of three or higher. Students exceeded the state of Colorado’s pass rate in 19 of 20 subject areas.
Durango School District isn’t only tracking the progress of currently enrolled students.
Fall 2024 data from the National Student Clearinghouse, a nonprofit that provides educational reporting and research to schools, colleges, universities and like institutions, indicated that 58% of DHS and Big Picture High School graduates enroll in college in the fall immediately following high school.
Eighty-two percent of Durango School District high school graduates who immediately enrolled in college in 2019 returned for their sophomore year in 2020, the data said. And, 46% of the Class of 2016 completed a degree within six years of high school graduation, again according to fall 2024 data.
With no end in sight to homelessness and high costs of living, Manna soup kitchen continued to serve the less fortunate last year.
Manna Executive Director Ann Morse said the nonprofit’s food market, Manna Market, distributed 318,797 pounds of food – fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy products and dry goods – over the course of 2024 from 13,312 individual visits. That’s an increase of about 75,000 pounds from 2023.
Additionally, Manna served a total of 48,818 prepared meals last year, she said.
“Everything from transportation needs to food needs to housing, you know, we're just really seeing a spectrum of needs,” Morse said.
She said the expiration of COVID-19 pandemic-era emergency SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) allotments, high rents and the lack of affordable housing have driven the unabated need to address food insecurity.
The Manna resource center, which helps people connect with SNAP, housing assistance, and to obtain government documents such as drivers licenses, birth certificates and social security cards, served 1,198 households and 1,832 individuals.
Eight hundred and twelve babies came into the world at Mercy Hospital in Durango last year.
One hundred and fifty three deaths were investigated by the La Plata County Coroner’s office in 2024. However, not every death is investigated by the coroner.
Under state law, coroners must investigate all deaths that are considered sudden, violent or unusual, and those deaths where a doctor is not in attendance. The investigations included 64 autopsies, said Coroner Jann Smith.
As county officials have noted in the past, a growing population means a growing number of deaths to investigate. Overall, numbers have “steadily increased” over the years, Smith said. She investigated 146 deaths in 2023.
The most expensive home sold in La Plata County last year fetched $5.25 million when it was sold in October, according to county records.
The 4,200 square-foot Glacier Club home located on Hideout Trail was completed in 2019 by Cerwin Homes and won the People’s Choice Award at the annual Parade of Homes Gala that year. The home features custom rock work, a rustic oak floor, a free-standing staircase, an elevator and a chef’s kitchen.
It was previously sold in 2022 for $4.3 million.
Throughout the year, experts have watched as the number of home sales decreased while the median price of homes in and around Durango has gone up.
The La Plata County Humane Society helped rehouse 1,700 pets last year, according to Executive Director Julie Dreyfuss.
“In addition to adopting out animals, we also provide clinics to the public for vaccination and fixing which has a huge impact, obviously, on animal health and welfare,” she added.
The organization also took care of an additional 1,400 animals through those clinics. Including animal protection services, the humane society helped 4,200 animals.
None of those numbers are a wild variance from the organization’s past work although in general Dreyfuss said staff are providing more services to the public.
The city of Durango issued 21,044 parking tickets last year, according to the city’s parking division, of which 2,766 tickets were dismissed, said Tom Sluis, city spokesman.
The tickets had an assessed value of $556,351. The city did not immediately have the total amount of fees collected through 2024, although it was working with its vendor to determine the amount.
Ninety-six percent of people who parked at meters paid their meter fees, Sluis said.
Parking ticket revenues are directed to a special fund for transportation services and contribute to operational costs for Durango Transit and the city’s multimodal division, in addition to being used to meet future parking needs, according to the city.
rschafir@durangoherald.com
cburney@durangoherald.com
A previous version of this story incorrectly spelled Manna Executive Director Ann Morse’s first name.
