Officials at Durango City Hall and Durango Police Department have been outspoken about how a 30-year extension of the 2005 half-cent sales tax would pay for the renovation of a new city hall and police headquarters.
But an extension would also continue to provide crucial funding for Durango Parks and Recreation.
The 2005 half-cent sales tax is split two ways, with a quarter-cent dedicated to parks, open spaces and trails and another quarter-cent dedicated to the Durango Public Library and Florida Road improvements. If extended, the latter quarter-cent would be put toward renovations for a new city hall and police department.
Representatives of the parks department said extending the 2005 sales tax for 30 years to 2055, which the city is preparing to ask voters to support in the November general election, would keep the city on track for future projects and help the parks department continue to maintain outdoor amenities that make Durango what it is.
Assistant Parks Director Scott McClain said if voters reject the extension of the sales tax, upcoming projects would be pushed back on the city’s list of things to do.
“Our list of wants, desires, is long. ... We've got a huge list of projects, and based on community input, what do we prioritize? What rises to the top?” he said.
He said the parks department also benefits from a 2015 sales tax, but that fund is split between Parks and Recreation and Durango’s Multimodal Division. Losing the quarter-cent sales tax revenues would essentially halve parks and rec’s development budget.
The 2005 sales tax helped the city pay for the purchase of Buckley Park from Durango School District 9-R for $3 million this summer. In 2023, it contributed to a project with the Southwest Conservation Corps to address soil erosion in Dalla Mountain Park. And it paid for conservation easements in the Horse Gulch Trail System in 2022, according to past reporting by The Durango Herald.
Kelly Schmidt, Parks and Recreation director, said the pickleball courts and park improvements at Schneider Park are other recent examples of projects that benefited from the sales tax.
Future development of Durango Mesa Park where a world-class bike park is planned to be built and the long-anticipated SMART 160 Trail that would connect the Animas River Trail with the Three Springs neighborhood are two projects that could benefit from the additional funding, McClain said.
McClain said the sales tax contributes to the acquisition of open spaces around Durango and along the Animas River, bolsters grant applications for more funding and sustains development of parks projects through economic downturns during which other communities flounder.
The 2008 Great Recession is a prime example, he said.
“There were a lot of communities and contractors looking for work to do, so it was … a great win-win for us that we had a designated sales tax that kept rolling in,” he said.
While other communities put parks projects on hold and were relying on their general funds just to handle upkeep of amenities they already had, McClain said Durango kept pressing forward on planned developments.
“We were in a position where we were very competitive for a couple of years because nobody else had the funds to put in a project. We were able to get a lot done in those couple of years,” he said.
A dedicated sales tax looks good on grant applications because it is evidence the city has a constant flow of funding to ensure projects get finished, he added.
Kelli Jaycox, assistant recreation director, said the sales tax also helps efforts to preserve water quality and river streams, wildlife habitat and land for hiking and biking, in addition to the creation and maintenance of parks, open space and trails.
The sales tax also helps pay for fire mitigation along the Animas River and at river put-ins, she said. She noted how beneficial that additional funding was during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when outdoor spaces were in high demand.
McClain said the sales tax is an investment by the community into the community. But residents aren’t the only people footing the bill. By nature of being a sales tax, tourists and visitors to the city are paying into the 2005 sales tax fund every time they go out to eat or shop.
Schmidt said the demand and passion for outdoor recreation is only growing, and Durango’s built and natural amenities are major drivers of people’s decisions to move to the area.
“Holistically, what the funds symbolize for the community is pretty important,” she said. “They prioritize parks, recreation and all of the outdoor recreation assets year after year after year after year.”
cburney@durangoherald.com
