Durango voters this November will be faced with more local than statewide issues, asked to weigh in on tax increases and raising the city’s debt.
Meanwhile, Bayfield is asking voters to approve a sales-tax increase to fund street maintenance.
Voters also will be asked to approve Durango, Bayfield and Ignacio school board directors.
La Plata County, Durango, Bayfield and Ignacio voters also can approve lifting restrictions on Internet, telecommunications and cable services.
The statewide issue facing voters might seem redundant because it is. Voters will again be asked to approve marijuana taxes, this time allowing the state to retain cannabis revenue.
Ballots were mailed Oct. 13. There are no regular polling places, though La Plata County will have three centers where voters can vote in person and update their information, as well as turn in their ballot through Nov. 3.
City of Durango Question 2B
The city is asking voters to approve $68 million in debt to help pay for a major remodel of the sewer plant in Santa Rita Park.
The remodel is estimated to cost about $58 million, and the additional $10 million would pay for other projects within the sewer system.
The debt would be paid off through sewer fees that are scheduled to increase through 2017.
If the debt is not approved, the city would still need to pay for upgrades to the sewer plant in cash, which could require some emergency increases to the sewer rates, said Mayor Dean Brookie.
The upgrades to the plant are necessary for the city to process wastewater to the state’s standards.
Critics say the city should find a new location for the sewer plant rather than spending millions of dollars building a new one at the current location, which is near a popular park, the tourism center and a busy highway corridor. If the debt question does not pass, council will not continue to explore moving the plant out of Santa Rita Park, Brookie said.
Moving the plant out of the park could require about $20 million more in city investment and higher sewer fees.
Average sewer rates are scheduled to increase to an average of about $56.28 a year to pay for the infrastructure. City Council approved these rate increases in 2014, and voting down the debt could force rates higher.
La Plata County Question 1A:
La Plata County voters are being asked to approve a property tax increase of up to 2.4 mills, which, if passed, would be the first property tax increase in a quarter century.
A mill equates to $1 per $1,000 of assessed value.
Commissioners have referred to the proposal as “modest,” which comes in conjunction with a major revenue shortfall due to the decline of the natural gas industry. The county doesn’t expect an uptick in demand anytime soon. Meanwhile, roads and bridges need maintenance, as well as new infrastructure.
An additional 2.4 mills from county residents could fund as much as 83 percent of La Plata’s road and bridge needs. A property owner with a $350,000 home would pay an additional $78 in property taxes solely to the road and bridge fund.
The increase comes with several stipulations:
The mill rate can be lowered from 2.4 mills at the commission’s discretion, depending on the health of revenue.
The levy would expire after 10 years.
The commission would be accountable to constituents and can only spend mill levy revenues on road and bridge infrastructure and maintenance.
The county would keep $4.7 million of the $5.3 million expected revenues. Durango would get more than $600,000, Bayfield $40,000 and Ignacio $9,000, annually.
State Proposition BB:
The only statewide ballot issue facing voters this November would allow the state to keep $66.1 million in revenue stemming from marijuana taxes collected in Fiscal Year 2014-15.
Even though voters twice before approved legalizing and taxing marijuana, a quirk in state law requires voters to allow the state to retain tax dollars when revenue ends up higher than estimated.
If the effort fails, the average refund would amount to about $8 per taxpayer, or $25 million total. Also, $24 million would be refunded to retail marijuana cultivators and $17.1 million to retail marijuana consumers through a temporary reduction in the 10 percent retail marijuana sales tax rate.
If the effort passes, $40 million would go to school construction and another $12 million would be spent on youth programs and marijuana education. The remainder would be allocated by the Legislature.
Supporters of the initiative – which was referred to voters by the state Legislature – say voters have already been clear that they want the state to keep marijuana taxes to fund enforcement, schools and other services.
Critics, however, say taxpayers are better off with the money, suggesting that they are being asked to pay for programs that they never asked for.
Town of Bayfield Question 2D:
For the third time, Bayfield town residents are being asked to approve a 1-cent sales tax increase to be dedicated to maintaining streets and storm drainage infrastructure.
If approved, the increase would bring Bayfield’s overall sales tax from 6.9 percent to 7.9 percent, the same as Durango’s rate. That includes county and state sales tax. Town sales tax would go from 2 percent up to 3 percent, which would raise an estimated $280,000 annually for infrastructure.
Without the sales-tax hike, the town is looking at increasing fees, including gas and electric franchise fees, and reducing town staffing. A citizens group supporting the tax hike said every dollar spent on street maintenance saves $6 to $10 spent on rebuilding streets in the future. The sales tax also would spread the costs of street maintenance among county residents and those who visit Bayfield, the group says. There is no organized group opposing the sales tax.
Durango School Board of Directors:
The election is occurring as the School District 9-R Board of Education shrinks from seven members to five. The board will be confronting financial challenges – the district has been dipping into its reserves for the past two years – a possible mill levy override campaign to increase funding and decisions about possible cuts, standards and assessments. Terms are four years, and board members do not receive compensation for serving.
Incumbent Stephanie Moran, an educator and GED program manager for the Durango Education Center, is running unopposed for the District B seat. Incumbent Brieanne Stahnke and Matthew Sheldon are vying for the District D seat.
Stahnke, a project/facilities engineer at BP America, says she is the only person on the board who is not a current or former educator, which allows her to bring a different perspective to decisions. She is particularly focused on the science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines and agrees with the board’s current position that all students should graduate from high school ready for work or college.
Sheldon has worked at the Boys & Girls Club of La Plata County and ran political campaigns for both Bruce Whitehead and Michael McLachlan. For the past nine months, he has been the campus visit coordinator at Fort Lewis College. He says he brings excellent communication skills, an ability to get people to work together and a commitment to a world-class education.
Bayfield School Board of Directors:
In Bayfield, four candidates are up for election for three seats: Carol Blatnick, Mike Foutz, Janie Hoover and Debbie Wilhelm.
Blatnick and Hoover are board incumbents, Foutz and Wilhelm have both served on the District Advisory Accountability Committee.
State budget cuts in education, testing and teacher preparedness are among the issues candidates discussed in interviews in the Oct. 16 edition of the Pine River Times.
Ignacio School Board of Directors:
In as crowded a candidate field as anyone can remember, eight candidates are running for three school board seats in the Ignacio School District.
Along with incumbent Ages Sanchez, candidates are Kelly McCaw, Cindy Dale, Doug Little, Michael Montoya, Germaine Ewing, Yvonne Conley-Chapman and Jay Dee Brunson. Sanchez, Dale and Little are former educators.
The Ignacio High School Student Council will host a candidate’s forum from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday in the new Ignacio High School auditorium.
La Plata County Question 1B, Durango Question 2C, Bayfield Question 2E, Ignacio Question 2A:
Through these ballot measures, La Plata County, as well as Durango, Bayfield and Ignacio voters, can vote in favor or against lifting restrictions on providing Internet, telecommunications and cable services.
Approval would opt the local governments out of provisions of a 2005 state law, which restricts local governments from leasing out their conduit and fiber to private companies or directly providing or improving Internet service for local users.
County and municipal officials supported the ballot item, which is not a commitment to providing those services. Rather, the county and municipalities would be able to strike public-private partnerships with companies.
Communities throughout the county with poor fiber-optic connections, such as Vallecito, between Bayfield and Pagosa Springs, and between Durango and Silverton, stand to gain better service through approval of the ballot item.
Approximately 10 local governments throughout Colorado have opted out of Senate Bill 152. The Colorado Municipal League has lobbied hard against the legislation, arguing that it gives exclusive control to the industry.
Herald staff writers Ann Butler, Peter Marcus, Jessica Pace and Mary Shinn contributed to this report. The Pine River Times also contributed.
To vote
All mail ballots are due by 7 p.m. on Election Day.
Locations include: the Clerk and Recorder’s Office in Durango, the Clerk and Recorder’s Office outside Bayfield Town Hall and the La Plata County Administration Building.
For more information, call 970-382-6296 or visit http://co.laplata.co.us.
