Durango City Council reached a compromise this week on how to allocate unspent lodgers tax funds earmarked for tourism marketing.
In a 3-2 vote, City Council approved allocating $245,500 to Visit Durango, the area tourism office, and $115,584 to the city’s sustainability department for additional electric vehicle fast chargers at the Durango Transit Center. Councilors Olivier Bosmans and Gilda Yazzie voted against the proposal.
Councilors have been divided over how to disperse the unused lodgers tax money totaling $361,084 since they discussed the topic at a June 20 City Council meeting.
They’d been presented with a staff recommendation of where to send the money, which proposed $133,000 for state and federal grant applications that would help the city secure more EV fast chargers; $100,000 to the transportation department for an inventory and replacement or upgrade of downtown signage; and $128,000 to Visit Durango.
Councilor Dave Woodruff said he was concerned about using money approved by voters for tourism marketing efforts for EV chargers and downtown road signage because doing so could set a “bait and switch” precedent of justifying spending on one thing when the money is earmarked for another purpose.
But he proposed a compromise on Wednesday with funds being allocated for Visit Durango and EV chargers.
Mayor Melissa Youssef voted in support of the compromise, although she said she is disappointed that city transportation was excluded from the allocations.
She said transportation funding gets cut “time and time and time again” and the transportation department is already working with reduced services from what it used to have. But, she said she is hopeful Visit Durango may be able to incorporate downtown signage into some of its sustainable tourism activities.
Yazzie said she doesn’t support using the lodgers tax funds earmarked for tourism for EV chargers and voted “no.”
Bosmans opposed the compromise as well. He said the funds for EV chargers would be used to match grants that won’t be fulfilled until next year and the city shouldn’t spend money just because money is available.
“I just think we’re not doing a very good job representing our community and the ballot language,” he said.
cburney@durangoherald.com
