The La Plata County commissioners are considering whether to go back to the voters next fall with a ballot measure to increase the county property tax to fund road and bridge repairs and maintenance. They are right not to approach the question lightly, but in the end, they should do so. There is not much in the way of alternatives.
County voters turned down a property tax increase for roads in November, and the commissioners are wise to respect that. But there are a number of factors that should be different next fall and, in any case, it is not unusual for a ballot measure to be put before the voters more than once.
The vote in November lost by only 500 votes, or 52-48 percent. Voter turnout was also embarrassingly low at 26 percent of registered voters. But 2016 will have presidential candidates on the ballot, as well as U.S. House and Senate seats, state House races and statewide ballot measures. Interest in the election should be considerably broader and deeper. And with that, voter turnout should also be significantly greater. The commissioners are clearly thinking not so much about persuading those who voted against the November measure as attracting those voters who stayed home last month.
Perhaps more to the point, even allowing for the holidays, the commissioners now have the better part of a year to sell the tax hike. And with a little luck, they will not have another mess like the Gold King Mine spill to distract them and the voters.
Tax hikes are never pleasant or welcome. And often those who oppose them do so reflexively. But the case the commissioners need to make is straightforward and the underlying math is uncomplicated.
Together with law enforcement, roads and bridges are the heart and soul of county government. Nothing the county does is more fundamental. And good roads cost money – to build, to repair and to maintain.
The gas industry is not about to disappear anytime soon, but the tax revenue it is producing is in decline. That situation is the result of national, even global, forces and is not something anyone in the county can change.
What that means is that the county has less money to address its responsibilities. Some duties, however, cannot be put off. The county is not about to close the jail until the budget looks better. Roads and bridges can be put off – for a while. But as everyone who owns a home or a business can attest, in the long run putting off needed upkeep is more costly than timely maintenance.
This is not akin to the Legislature where complex budgetary issues revolve around conflicting constitutional mandates or anything like that. This is arithmetic. If we want good roads, we have to pay for them.
That is an argument the commissioners should be able to make well. And it is a situation voters can understand, fully if not eagerly.
The commissioners should give this one another try.
