Durango asks residents to pay higher sales, property taxes

Friday, Oct 5, 2018 4:08 PM Updated Friday, Oct. 5, 2018 9:00 PM

City proposes increase to help maintain streets, build police station

The city of Durango will ask voters this fall to raise property and sales taxes enough to generate up to $7.5 million in revenue every year for the next 25 years.

The increase – an additional 5.4 mill levy on properties and a 0.55 percent increase to sales tax – is intended to help the city pay for a new police station, fund public safety and code enforcement and maintain streets and city buildings, according to the ballot question.

A 5.4 mill increase would cost property owners about $140 per year on a home with an assessed value of $400,000. A 0.55 percent increase to sales tax would bring the sales tax rate up to 8.45 percent in Durango. If approved, Durango would have one of the highest sales taxes in the region, topping Ignacio at 7.9 percent, Cortez at 7.35 percent and Farmington at 7.625 percent.

The decision to go for two streams of revenue – a sales tax and a property tax – came Aug. 14 after months of public meetings and a statistically valid survey conducted about what kind of tax increase Durango residents would prefer.

The survey found that 58 percent of respondents supported a sales tax increase and 33 percent supported a property tax increase to fund long-term city needs.

The tax increase, if approved, would raise at least $187.5 million for the city by 2043.

If the tax increase isn’t approved, city services such as police, street maintenance, snow removal and Durango Public Library could face budget cuts by 2020, city officials said.

City pavement ratings

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Durango streets are failing, and the police department doesn’t have enough space to hire the eight additional employees it needs, said Mayor Sweetie Marbury.

Marbury

Marbury said she’s voting for the city sales tax measure because “it’s good common sense to support the police department and street infrastructure.” The city hasn’t raised property taxes since 1982, she said, and it is a small ask compared with the potential increases to property values residents may reap from projects the tax increase would fund.

A vote against the ballot measure would be “shortsighted,” she said.

“To me, it’s protecting your city,” Marbury said. “I’d hate to consider the future if this fails.”

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But John Simpson, a Durango resident who has been vocal about his opposition to the tax increase, said the ballot measure is irresponsible. The city has revenue elsewhere that it is not using that could help fund street maintenance or a new police building, he said. He doesn’t oppose increased revenue for the general fund, but increasing taxes isn’t the way the city should do it, he said.

Simpson said the parks and recreation fund has ballooned to a point that officials can’t spend the money as fast as it comes in. Simpson suggests asking voters to consider reappropriating tax money collected by the Parks and Recreation Department to be used by the city’s general fund rather than asking residents to pay more in taxes.

“This has been a little quick to go to the tax increase when there are other options out there,” Simpson said.

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bhauff@durangoherald.com

Ballot 2A fact sheet (PDF)

City pavement ratings (PDF)

Poll: Will city of Durango voters approve a ballot measure to increase sales and property taxes to fund street maintenance and a new police station?

Yes - 595 - 25.27%

No - 1760 - 74.73%

Ballot Question 2A

Here is the text of the question that will appear on the November ballot for residents who live within Durango city limits:

Question 2A: Authorization to increase city taxes for 25 years for the purpose of funding police, public safety and code enforcement, the construction, operation and maintenance of a police station and other city buildings, and street improvements. Shall city of Durango taxes be increased not more than $8,716,000 in tax collection year 2019 and by whatever amounts are generated annually thereafter by a mill levy of not more than 5.4 mills and an additional sales and use tax of not more than 0.55 percent for the purposes of funding police, public safety and code enforcement, the construction, operation and maintenance of a police station and other city buildings and facilities, and the construction and maintenance of streets, alleys, curbs, gutters, sidewalks and related street improvements, provided that these increased taxes shall not be collected after December 31, 2043?