Like many people, I was supportive of the increase in our lodgers tax in 2021. And like many, I was dismayed to find that the city planned to spend the majority of this revenue on tourism marketing. So I was happy when last week, the Colorado State Assembly changed the law governing how lodgers tax revenue can be spent. The change in the law means we are no longer bound to spend these funds on promotions and tourist-centric infrastructure. Instead, the new law permits cities like Durango to spend its lodgers tax revenues on mitigating two of the biggest costs to the people who live here: housing and child care.

I hope the City Council realizes the immediate need to change the allocations of our lodgers tax revenue in order to take advantage of this change. While we may need marketing as part of Durango’s tourism industry, I think we can all agree that the need for affordable housing and child care for the people working in that industry is exponentially greater. We are already losing talented workers and entrepreneurs because of the prohibitive cost of living and raising a family here.

Andrew Allport

Durango