A plan to simplify the funding and governance of fire and emergency services comes with a $4.3 million catch for the city of Durango.
This is in addition to an annual fee for service that is supposed to be comparable to what the city has been paying annually for fire and rescue services, about $2.85 million in recent years.
To ease the sticker shock, $4 million of the additional fees would be spread out in annual payments of $272,000 during a new, 15-year contract with Durango Fire Protection District, which city voters will be asked to approve in a November referendum.
The city could pay off the $4 million in monthly installments along with its service fee.
Officials acknowledged the price could throw folks for a loop.
In a breakdown of the costs, the city would be on the hook for $3 million toward a new fire station to replace what officials describe as an outgrown and outdated fire station at River City Hall.
Emil Wanatka, chairman of Durango Fire Protection District, said firefighters at River City Hall have less living space than county inmates at the jail. Because of the proximity of Durango Discovery Museum, firefighters have made it a practice to “scour” for children to make sure they are not in front of fire engines leaving for an emergency.
The other $1.3 million includes the city’s share of $279,079 to retire bond debt.
A contribution of $1,080,000 is supposed to be proportionate to the $3 million that the Animas and Hermosa Cliff fire protection districts are contributing in their surplus funds toward the reorganized Durango Fire Protection District.
If city voters and voters in the Animas and Hermosa Cliff districts approve the reorganization in November, the city of Durango would pay the $279,079 for bond debt soon after the election to expedite dissolution of their governing boards.
The Durango Fire Protection District then would be left with one governing board.
Bill Webbe, chairman of Durango Fire & Rescue Authority and Hermosa Cliff Fire Protection District, said he is looking forward to toasting the “demise of the ménage à trois.”
Because of the different governing boards and the member districts’ differing sources of revenue, relationships have been strained.
County residents of the outlying fire districts pay a property tax, but city voters have rejected proposals for a new property tax, preferring to pay for fire services out of the city’s sales tax.
So the latest proposal allows the city to continue to pay for fire and emergency services out of its general fund, which is funded primarily by its sales tax. The city no longer would be considered as a constituency with voting rights.
The city’s contractual fee would be based on the proposed mill levy for Animas and Hermosa Cliff fire districts, 5.7 mills, if applied to real properties in Durango on their assessed values and a fee based on an ownership tax if the city was still in the district.
Politically speaking, Bud Smith, attorney for the Hermosa Cliff and Durango districts, said the extra $4 million would answer critics who complain that city residents have not been “paying their fair share.”
When the city joined Durango Fire & Rescue Authority in 2002, it got service from fire stations in Bodo Industrial Park and near East Animas Road (County Road 250) that were built by the Animas Fire District, which had passed its own bond program, Wanatka said.
Wanatka recognized that Animas brought a “lot more toys to the sandbox.”
jhaug@durangoherald.com
