The narrative of the critics of the 1A tax initiative is fueled by the cliché of wasteful government spending. Yet city departments in 2019 carved out over $500,000 in additional budget cuts to accommodate a 13 percent increase in insurance premiums. This news came in after millions of dollars were already cut from the proposed operating budgets.
For a host of external reasons, city budgets across the nation are under stress, Durango included. The cities that survive, and even thrive, will be those whose citizens understand these stresses and are prepared to deal with them head-on, including tax increases when absolutely necessary.
The 1A measure is absolutely necessary.
No city thrives without solid infrastructure. The price of repairing or renewing our roads and streets will cost millions more each year we delay. We have argued about it and had a spirited debate.
We can always count on Durangoans to do the right thing, after they have exhausted all other possibilities. Voting for 1A may not be the most popular thing but it is the right thing.
Bill LeMaire
Durango
