Last November our ballots contained several asks for tax hikes, both local and state.
In Durango, Ballot Question 2A combined property and sales tax increases to fund fire and rescue, and street maintenance.
While the needs were real, the question was a bit confusing while trying to solve several problems at once.
Taken together with the state’s proposals for increased education and road funding, mixed with a nationally polarized mood, and the city’s poor job of explaining and justifying its need, 2A went down in flames.
So, here we go again with another ask – 1A, coming to our April ballot.
The needs still exist here in Durango.
As oil and gas revenues have decreased, as online shopping eats our local sales tax collections, as drought and fire handed us a poor season for tourist visits, our growing city remains subject to national inflation trends and soaring local construction costs, with ever increasing wear and tear, demand and pressure, on infrastructure and basic services.
The need for additional funding is as real as a newborn joining your family.
You can’t defer food, clothing, medical or care expenses. You tighten belts and look for increased revenue sources to feed the family.
Durango has experienced several years of belt tightening.
Our City Council – vetted, duly elected, and deserving of trust – understands the budget and has looked creatively at trimming expenses, shifting funds and deferring projects.
Our belts are tight. It is time to find new funding if we want to keep the paint on our Durango home fresh.
Some have suggested robbing Parks and Rec dedicated funds to meet other shortfalls.
In 2015, voters overwhelming endorsed investing in our city with a tax to fund community parks, trails and open space. It passed handily!
The first sign of peeling paint is not the time to rob the baby’s college fund. Just as that is an investment in the future, so is the continued development of pedestrian connections, parks, event centers and open spaces.
While these expenditures can seem frivolous to some, they are in fact drivers of our economy, bringing people and revenue that, while sometimes hard to calculate, is evident and important to Durango’s present and future.
Look around the state, and country, at cities that thrive, at places that attract talented people and diverse businesses.
A common thread is investment in public spaces, green spaces, health and recreation, and walkability.
Look no farther than Silverton.
As our neighbors to the north seek to diversify their economy, the first essential they identified is expanded trail and recreation opportunities. Silverton, like most communities, covets the kind of funding we have, the investment we’ve made, the desirable place to live that Durango has become.
Just as fertile soil and adequate water attracts a strong farm and ranch populace; as oil and gas, minerals and forests, attract a robust natural resources sector; as good schools attract good families; parks, recreation and open space attract diverse citizens and businesses. Even those who don’t farm or forest, hike or bike, should recognize the positive effect each has on our town.
My wife, a fourth-generation local, often comments on the positive changes she has seen in Durango. Walking and biking in town, floating on the river and hiking local trails were not so accessible when she was a child.
She, as with myself, likely wouldn’t live here (with our combined four businesses) were it not for the investments Durango has made in public spaces.
With that, let’s not sacrifice the baby’s education for the house paint.
Durango needs additional funds to fill the potholes and maintain the streets. We can pay half a penny now for maintenance, or a lot more later for rebuilding. One way or the other, it is we who will have to pay. My vote is for paying less now.
The city is wisely not asking for all in one this go-around. City Council, through many meetings and scoping sessions, with an abundance of citizen input, has identified a half-penny tax increase for our streets as the top priority.
Nobody likes more taxes. Nobody likes craters in their roads, either. As a community, we need to invest in our home.
For less than the cost of one family meal out per year (with a lot of tourists contributing, too), we can meet our current needs while continuing to invest in our future.
I can’t think of a town I’d rather invest in! Yes on 1A.
Andy Corra is a partner in 4Corners Riversports, among other business ventures. He is a 35-year resident of Durango.
