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Lodgers tax reallocation makes La Plata County ballot

Voters will be asked in November to redirect 70% of annual revenue
Members of the public raise their hand in support of reallocating 70% of county's lodgers tax at a business meeting before the La Plata County Board of County Commissioners Tuesday. (Reuben M. Schafir/Durango Herald)
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La Plata County voters will decide in November whether to redirect 70% of the revenue from the county’s lodgers tax toward affordable housing and child care.

The Board of County Commissioners voted Tuesday to approve a ballot question following impassioned public comment from community members who favor the reallocation.

The county collects a 2% tax on hotel and short-term rental stays in the unincorporated county. Revenue from that tax – almost $1 million last year – is currently passed through to Visit Durango, the area’s destination management and marketing organization.

If the ballot questions passes, the county will have broad discretion to use the revenue to address the needs of the workforce.

In comments submitted in writing, business leaders with a stake in the tourism economy warned that a decrease in marketing could imperil an already fragile industry.

The lodgers tax uses tourism revenue to refuel its own industry. Visit Durango highlights the region and its marquee attractions, and to advocate for sustainable recreation. If visitation decreases due to a decline in tourism marketing, lodgers tax revenues will also fall, some warn.

Many speakers compared the elements at play – tourism recruitment, housing and child care – to three legs of a stool upon which the tourism economy is balanced.

The decision Tuesday offers voters the opportunity to weigh in on the question of which leg that fuel should support: recruiting tourism on the front end, or supporting the workers on the back end.

2024 ballot question

“Without raising taxes, shall La Plata County be authorized to expand the allowable uses of its existing lodger’s tax to support our local workforce by providing child care programs and affordable housing opportunities for the tourism-related workforce, including seasonal workers, and other workers in La Plata County, with seventy percent (70%) of the existing lodger’s tax revenue being used for operating and capital expenditures to acquire, construct, maintain, enhance, renovate, relocate, improve, promote, support, finance and fund housing and child care for workers in La Plata County, and for all other purposes permitted by law, and the remaining thirty percent (30%) of revenue from the existing lodger’s tax being used for advertising and marketing local tourism, with expenditures spent in compliance with state budget laws and other applicable laws governing local governments?”

Workers in the service industry, many of whom spoke in Spanish with live interpretation services provided by the county, warned that a dire need for child care decreases the capacity and quality of the available workforce.

“We are in this battle that we shouldn’t even be in, fighting about ‘should we focus on tourism?’ or ‘should we focus on child care?’ because at the end of the day, the two are completely interconnected,” said Carolina Diaz, a former server who had to leave her job in 2020 after she could not find child care for her newborn.

The cries of Claudia Bencomo’s 27-day-old infant occasionally interrupted the public comment – a real-time reminder to the board of how real the struggle for child care is in the region.

Those who spoke in favor of the reallocation acknowledged the need for tourism. But, they said, that economy can only continue to hum along if there are workers available to fill service roles.

“We could literally fill 10 Riverhouses,” said Becky Malecki, the executive director of Riverhouse Children’s Center. “We get 15 calls a week of people we have to turn away because we don’t have room.”

Local First CEO Doug McCarthy was one of just two speakers who urged caution around the reallocation. And even McCarthy’s comments asked the commissioners to consider balance, but not to turn away from a reallocation outright.

There are several steps remaining before funding could actually benefit child care or housing, commissioners warned, the first being that voters would have to approve the question in November.

rschafir@durangoherald.com



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