Voters may be polled again to gauge their interest in a property tax increase to fund an airport expansion – a study that could cost around $20,000.
La Plata County commissioners met Wednesday to discuss polling for the ballot measure, which they and city officials agreed months ago should go before voters this fall.
Because a similar analysis conducted last year showed two-thirds of respondents were against a property tax increase, Commissioner Julie Westendorff said she is concerned a new study would be redundant.
“If the measure failed like the poll numbers said, what does that mean? If I felt confident it would be a close vote either way, I would feel differently,” she said. “In talking to people, just generally, I don’t get the feeling it would be a close call.”
Commissioners Brad Blake and Gwen Lachelt were uncertain.
“I don’t think there’s any silver bullet to knowing whether one or all measures will pass,” Lachelt said.
“A lot has changed in the last year. There is more on the ballot than we thought,” Blake said. “I’m still in favor of moving forward with it. If it didn’t pass by a small margin, we’d know we needed to do more outreach. If it did pass, we’d be moving forward.”
Last year’s survey showed that 61 percent of respondents were against a property tax increase to expand the airport, with 32 percent in favor, and 7 percent saying they “didn’t know.” Yet, 50 percent of respondents said they would support a sales tax increase with a third of a cent on every dollar spent across the county going to the airport project instead. Forty-seven percent were against the sales tax hike, and 18 percent opposed any tax increases.
Voters also are likely to see separate tax increase proposals for the Bayfield School District as well as county roads and bridges, in addition to the airport measure.
Roger Zalneraitis, executive director of the La Plata County Economic Development Alliance, said a future poll should be more succinct to maintain respondents’ interest and up the odds of surveys being returned.
The alliance paid for a focus group that is developing a marketing campaign, which will take off in mid-August and continue through September and October, when ballots go out.
“You don’t want to peak early with outreach,” Zalneraitis said. “You want this to be at the top of people’s attention then, as opposed to now, when they could forget about it.”
Assuming the question is placed on the November ballot, outreach efforts will move forward with a focus on social media and radio.
Revenue from the proposed tax hike would contribute to an $85 million terminal project for the Durango-La Plata County Airport, which was recently one of six Colorado airports to receive a portion ($215,000) of a $6.6 million Federal Aviation Administration grant for maintenance work.
Commissioners will meet with Durango city councilors next week to discuss the airport ballot item and mechanisms for funding the poll.
