Don’t leave home without your reusable bags.

A 10-cent fee on disposable plastic and paper bags at the supermarket checkout got the support of a 3-0 vote by the Durango City Council on Tuesday.

The second and final vote on the ordinance still must be approved Aug. 6 before the fee then could go into effect March 1, 2014, but approval appears likely because only Councilor Keith Brant has expressed opposition.

Brant and Mayor Dick White were absent from a contentious meeting as councilors heard a barrage of arguments against the fee as a tax, the practicality of reusable bags and the wisdom of the council deciding a controversial issue.

As a representative of one of the three affected retailers, Albertsons Manager Don Donahue asked the issue be put to a ballot.

A resident, David Peters, also asked the city “to let the people of Durango decide the issue. Put it to a vote.”

In anticipation of this argument, White, in a prepared statement read by Councilor Sweetie Marbury, argued that the councilors’ “role as elected officials is to render our best judgment on what is in the long-term interest of the community. I believe that the checkout-bag ordinance meets this standard.”

In the past, the city has only put issues to referendum that have been mandated by the state or federal government, White added.

To those who say it’s a tax, White said it can’t be considered a tax because it would apply only to those who choose to purchase the plastic or paper disposable bags. Consumers would be paying a fee to use disposable bags.

But fee opponents also argued that Durango would revert “into a smelly town of the 1800s” because, they allege, reusable bags are not sanitary and E. coli could result from mixing vegetables and meat in the same dirty bags through time.

The fee also was opposed as a “feel-good” ordinance that would not do much in the way of sustainability or reducing litter.

Foes also thought tourists would be turned off by the fees.

In his same statement, White argued that reusable bags are unsanitary only if they’re never washed.

“This is a matter of personal hygiene,” White argued in his statement.

Councilor Christina Rinderle said the “fearmongering over the health problems is a little bit ridiculous. We did not grow up with plastic bags. I’m still alive.”

As far as the tourism fears, Councilor Dean Brookie said other big tourist destinations already have placed restrictions on plastic bags.

“You can’t get a bag in Hawaii or (Los Angeles),” Brookie said.

In Durango, the 10-cent fee would apply only to stores of 25,000 square feet or more, affecting Albertsons, the two City Markets and Walmart. The 10-cent fee would be split between the store and the city to cover their administrative costs and training and to go toward public-education efforts.

In an interview, Kirk Komick, a member of anti-plastic bag group Bag It Durango and owner of Leland House & The Rochester Hotel, said a plastic-bag fee was necessary for a tourist town that markets the great outdoors.

“We’re selling nature,” Komick said. “We should strive to keep our nature as clean as possible.”

A fee is not a “cure-all by any means, but it’s a good message,” Komick said.

Bag It Durango has been raising awareness for two years about plastic bags, bringing the issue before the city. Mip Van Suchtelen of Bag It Durango argued against those who think plastic bags are a petty issue.

“We can all agree there are bigger fish to fry, but that does not mean we shouldn’t fry this one, too,” she said.

jhaug@durangoherld.com