Staring down a transportation budget cliff $2 million steep, Durango city councilors say increased parking fees and fines may be necessary to save services riders depend on.
Durango Transit needs $2 million in new annual funding to avoid cutbacks to public transit services in 2028.
The transportation department expects to earn $3.8 million in revenue this year and faces expenses of more than $4.1 million. It’s projected to run out of money in 2028, Sarah Hill, transportation director, said at a study session on Feb. 3.
The $4.375 million sale of a city-owned parking lot next to McDonald’s on College Drive back to the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad bought the city some time in 2024; otherwise, Durango Transit was projected to run out of funding this year.
But the sale only delayed Durango Transit’s budget woes.
The transportation department is no stranger to funding challenges. Hill has said publicly and in interviews no public transportation department in the country is self-sustaining. Durango is no exception.
In 2017, the city had to cut its U.S. Highway 160/Crestview route and raise parking ticket fines in order to balance its budget.
Since then, the city has made strides to restore routes and introduce new services that provided just over 470,000 rides last year.
Hill said the city would likely cut its DuranGO microtransit program if purse strings are drawn too tight again.
Councilor Shirley Gonzales said cutting bus services again is not an option, even if that means raising meter rates, issuing more expensive tickets and expanding parking enforcement into the evenings and weekends.
None of those options are popular, she said, and she doesn’t take the subject lightly. But public transit is too valuable to too many residents to cut. If it came to raising fees or cutting services, she would choose the former.
“I know so many people who use it on a daily basis to get to work, for everything – for all of their transportation needs,” she said. “We cannot start limiting service. It’s just too important.”
She said the federal government should provide more funding for municipal public transit, but she doesn’t see that happening under the current administration.
Hill said at the study session that Durango Transit is maxed out on state and federal grants.
Councilor Jessika Loyer said maintaining transit services takes priority over keeping fees where they are.
“I definitely do not want to lower services at all ever again,” she said. “That happened before I was on council and I definitely want to make sure that it doesn’t happen.”
During her time in office since 2021, City Council has done everything it could to reinstate routes lost in 2017, she said.
Councilor Kip Koso said funding is challenging not just for transit, but for housing and child care, too. He foresees reductions in costs and operations in addition to raises in fees to strike a balanced budget.
He said Durango Transit can’t be reduced to just one route, for example, but a balance must be struck.
“There’s no easy answer here,” he said.
For Koso, it’s about priorities – what services or departments would benefit most from funding.
A $2 million investment into housing might not net a large number of new units, he said. But $2 million would balance Durango Transit’s budget.
Likewise, $100,000 or $500,000 might have a greater impact in some areas than others, he said.
“Fees have to go up a little bit too and yet this seems to be the conversation we’re having an awful lot now for council: increased water fees, increased sewer fees, increased parking fees,” he said. “How are we going to try and spread the pain of trying to provide these services that I think most people in the city of Durango would like us to provide?”
Koso and Loyer said the city could free up significant funding for transit if it joined the Durango Fire Protection District. Durango isn’t currently within the district and receives emergency services on a contract basis, which the city budgeted $9.8 million for this year. But that decision has yet to be reached.
Loyer suggested additional lodgers tax funding could help keep Durango Transit’s budget in the black.
That would require the city to take the issue to ballot.
The lodgers tax provides a modest $650,000 to Durango Transit annually, Hill said at the study session. That accounts for 20% of lodgers tax revenues.
“The less impact, obviously, for our constituents, the better, as it’s already expensive to live in Durango and affordability is (at the top of my priorities), but I don’t want to cut transit,” Loyer said. “That means funding it in whatever way I possibly can.”
cburney@durangoherald.com
