The city of Durango’s 2005 half-cent sales tax is set to expire Dec. 31, 2026, but the city wants to use it as a funding source for its relocation of various offices to the former Durango School District 9-R Administration building.

Durango City Manager Jose Madrigal said City Council likely won’t vote until July on whether to place reauthorization of the sales tax on the November ballot because project conceptual designs and construction costs still need to be determined.

Public input from residents is still needed as well.

The city will present conceptual designs, projected construction costs and such information at several public forums between now and July, with the first forum scheduled for the end of February.

The city announced Wednesday morning it will hold a virtual public forum about the exterior design of the planned new police department and city hall at 11 a.m. Feb. 29.

Meeting attendees must register for the forum in advance by contacting Durango community engagement specialist Klancy Nixon at klancy.nixon@durangoco.gov.

It will hold an in-person meeting at the Durango Public Library at 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 27.

The 2005 half-cent sales tax is composed of two quarter-cents, one that funds parks operations and another that funds capital improvement projects on Florida Road and the Durango Public Library, and the latter quarter-cent will soon be paid off, Madrigal said.

He said the city wants to retain the quarter-cent funding parks operations and apply the soon to be freed quarter-cent to construction at the former school admin building.

“That gave us some capacity there to issue debt through the election to build this project. So what we're right now doing is we're in the conceptual phase, we are going to the public,” he said.

Final conceptual designs would be presented to the public in April. The city’s architect would bring estimated construction and project costs to City Council in May or June, Madrigal said.

“We're not going to really know if it fits in or how that works until we know those construction costs, which we haven't gotten quite yet because we wanted to make sure we had a conceptual design that was out there (to the public),” he said.

For about a year, the city has discussed turning the former school admin building into a new civic center that would house the police and planning departments, City Hall and Carnegie Building offices. But going forward, the project will be known as the new Durango Police Department and City Hall.

Madrigal said the city is moving away from “civic center” language because some residents said it gives the impression the building would be full of public conference rooms, not necessarily city offices or a police department.

Residents have responded well at public meetings about the project. Madrigal said the city has received “overwhelmingly positive support” and there’s a “groundswell” of favorable thoughts on it.

At a March 2023 public forum, resident Peter Schertz said the consolidation of city offices and a new police department building have been talked about for over three decades.

“The police department seems to be in the most dire need,” he said. “Unfortunately, the average citizen doesn’t see that day-to-day. But we’ve been hearing about it forever.”

Madrigal said historic preservation of the building in question is also important to residents.

He said it’s now incumbent upon the city to figure out how long a reauthorized 2005 sales tax, if approved by voters, would be in place and how much the building project will cost. Residents already started pressuring City Council into addressing the sales taxes’ expiration date.

However, construction costs will affect how long a renewed sales tax is needed, and those construction costs are still unknown, Madrigal said.

It’s also unknown what would become of the current City Hall and police department.

Madrigal said the city could sell the buildings and use the revenue to offset construction costs. Or it could retain ownership of the buildings or properties, but enter into a public-private partnership to use the spaces in new ways.

“Do we want it to be housing, do we want it to be multi-use?” he said. “How do we get back into this community and continue to make maybe even Second Avenue a little more vibrant?”

Madrigal said he hasn’t thought that far ahead yet, but it’s important to turn those spaces into new community assets in some shape or form.

cburney@durangoherald.com

A previous version of this story incorrectly said the 2005 sales tax expires this year. It expires Dec. 31, 2026.