Durango city councilors suggested Tuesday they won’t ask voters to approve a property tax increase in April and discussed instead the possibility of reapportioning parks and recreation funding to pay for street maintenance.
“I’m really nervous of the prospect of an April ballot initiative,” said Mayor Pro-Tem Melissa Youssef. “If we were to discuss anything, it should be a reallocation of funds and not a property tax.”
Councilors made their feelings known after participating in 13 listening sessions during the past few weeks.
The city of Durango released a 16-page document summarizing the comments shared during the listening sessions, which were held to ask residents why they didn’t vote for ballot measure 2A in November.
The tax question would have raised sales tax by 0.55 percent and property tax by 5.4 mills to collect up to $7.5 million annually for 25 years to pay for a new police station, city buildings, streets and sidewalk infrastructure improvements.
“I think that the ballot initiative had too much rolled into one item for many people to swallow – it was an all or nothing approach,” one resident said. “Most people opt for nothing.”
Comments made to councilors were summarized in a report without naming the individual who contributed the comments, and the comments were not taken as verbatim quotes.
Of the dozens of comments shared with City Council, a few themes emerged, including:
The city isn’t prioritizing its money appropriately.The tax question was too broad and would have lasted too long.The city asked for too much without much specificity.The city did not do a good job of educating residents about why the tax increase was needed. “Some community members agree that the city is faced with a problem but did not agree with the proposed solution,” one resident commented.
Many residents took aim at two half-cent sales taxes that are used, in part, on parks and recreation. Most argued that the city is using the tax to fund wants rather than needs. The half-cent sales tax funding approved in 2005 and 2015 should be reapportioned to the general fund to pay for streets, sidewalks, law enforcement and city buildings, some residents said.
Portions of the two half-cent sales taxes are already spoken for: one quarter-cent pays for debt incurred when the city resurfaced Florida Road and another quarter-cent goes to paying off debt on the Durango Public Library.
Some of the sales taxes that are not paying off debt should be reapportioned to the general fund for street maintenance, residents said. It is a move that would require voter approval.
City councilors on Tuesday entertained the idea of reappropriating part of a 2005 half-cent sales tax used for open space to be used for street maintenance. Councilors suggested hosting a public meeting to discuss what the 2005 sales tax pays for to determine if using that money for streets is an appropriate use of previously approved public dollars.
Many residents also suggested that the tax question, if it is brought up again, should be more specific and run for a shorter term.
A 25-year sales and property tax to fund streets and sidewalks, law enforcement and city buildings was just too long, too broad and had too many variables, residents said. More specific questions would have a better chance of approval, they said.
“People generally support infrastructure and public safety, but the way you had it was overly ambitious, it was too long and too big,” Councilor Youssef said. “People were communicating that they do recognize the need; it was kind of the manner in which we asked.”
Residents also urged councilors to think more about how they market a tax increase to educate residents about the benefits that would come from it. The city needs a citizen committee to market the ballot question and also needs to do more to address the criticisms made by resident groups like Citizens for Durango’s Future, which sent a mailer weeks before the election urging residents to vote “no” on ballot measure 2A.
“The city did an abysmal job selling the initiative to the voters,” one resident commented. “... Provide more details on the need.”
Councilor Chris Bettin said the disconnect between voters and councilors in communicating the purpose and impacts of the tax increase is part of the reason the measure failed.
“Every session I attended I left thinking, ‘The public doesn’t have a grasp on what we’re asking for and why it’s needed,’” Bettin said.
bhauff@durangoherald.com
