In April 2018, the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners placed a classified ad in the weekly Pagosa Springs SUN:
“The Board of County Commissioners are soliciting the participation of persons interested in serving on a facilities review and advocacy committee…”
The selected group was asked to offer an opinion on the BOCC’s “new jail” plan as it related to their view of its success at the ballot. Upon delivery of their findings, the group would then become the primary advocacy group supporting the ballot question — on behalf of the Board of County Commissioners.
Seven people were officially appointed. As of Tuesday’s BOCC meeting, only four volunteers remained on the committee — Harold Bright, Rob Keating, Carl Mellberg, and Richard Vihel.
We might note that the committee was never asked to develop a plan. The Plan was already established by the BOCC — basically, the same plan that failed at the polls last November, except slightly more expensive to build.
The process has been financially awkward, because the committee has expended thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds to promote one side of a ballot issue, with the BOCC’s blessing. This appears to be a violation of Colorado’s Fair Campaign Finance law, or at least, a violation of the spirit of that law.
As far as I can tell, the group — who named themselves “Citizens for a New Jail” — fully embraced the idea of a one-percent sales tax increase, and never seriously considered Plan B. Plan B has, however, been presented repeatedly to the BOCC in various levels of detail by local activist Mark Weiler. Plan B includes a much smaller jail — and no tax increase. The project would be built using existing revenue flows, along with the generous savings accounts the BOCC has stashed away over the past decade. (Those bank accounts amount to more than $8 million.)
Mr. Weiler made one final attempt to influence the BOCC last Tuesday, September 4, during public comment.
“Number One. A sales tax is a regressive tax. It hurts the lowest level of our economy. It impacts them the worst.”
Mr. Weiler then encouraged the BOCC — Steve Wadley, Ronnie Maez and Michael Whiting — to consider funding methods such as “Certificates of Participation” which would not require a tax increase.
“I caution you. Tell the truth to your voters. The last time we had a bond measure passed in Archuleta County was Measure 1A [in 2006]. It was a disaster. Your predecessors did not follow the language of the ballot, and there was nobody with enough money to hire the attorneys to challenge them. I think that’s changed…
“I suggest that, at the end of today, the group that you appointed to be ‘pro-jail’ should be disbanded. They’ve served whatever purpose you had in mind at the time, but I think it’s fraught with legal danger — that you funded it the way you did…”
At the conclusion of the tax increase action, after the BOCC had unanimously approved the ballot language — repeatedly changing said language in a painfully disorganized manner — County Attorney Todd Starr asked the commissioners if they wanted to disband the ‘Citizens for a New Jail” committee.
Commissioner Ronnie Maez: “The committee was appointed by us. But the committee can resign at any time, and they could dissolve themselves. Could they not?”
Commissioner Steve Wadley: “This meeting was not noticed for ‘dissolvement’ of the committee. But how many members of the committee are there, total?”
Committee chair Richard Vihel stood up and joked: “Rather than be executed, we will commit suicide.”
Commissioner Wadley: “Do any of the jail committee members wish to resign at this point?”
Mr. Vihel stepped up to the podium and offered his resignation, in terms of being in any way officially connected to the County government. He expressed his intention to continue promoting the proposed tax increase. Committee member Rob Keating also steeped to the microphone and offered his resignation, promising to continue endorsing the jail project. (The other two members of the committee were not present at the September 4 meeting.)
The various documents approved by the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday, September 4, give a clear indication that the one-percent tax increase proposal is aimed at numerous County facility upgrades, not merely at a “New Jail.”
From Resolution 2018-36, with defines the ballot ‘title’:
…will permit the County to utilize the revenues derived from these taxes for any and all capital expenditures related to, touching upon or concerning the construction or operation of a detention facility, including but not limited to jail cells, sheriff’s administration offices; sheriff’s patrol and transport vehicles, communications and dispatching, courtrooms, district attorney facilities, and related facilities;
Ballots will be mailed out on October 15, I understand, and are due back by November 6. The BOCC’s ballot measure will ask us to increase County sales tax collections by up to $2.97 million per year, for up to 15 years. According to my pocket calculator, that would total $44.55 million in additional taxes, collected on purchases made in Archuleta County. The BOCC has never given us a plan for how they will spend $44.55 million.
And no one from the County government has presented a clear analysis regarding the amount of sales tax paid by local residents, compared to the amounts paid by non-residents (tourists.) But a Daily Post analysis suggests that the Lion’s Share of our sales tax revenues — in excess of 80 percent — is extracted from local residents.
You can read that analysis here.
What our analysis doesn’t address, however, is the fact that sales tax is generally regarded as the most regressive of all taxes — that is to say, the type of tax that hits our poorest residents the hardest.
The analysis also suggests that more than 50 percent of the property taxes paid to the County government comes from people who do not live in Pagosa Springs full-time.
The Archuleta BOCC has chosen to ask for a sales tax increase, instead of a property tax increase. This decision was made without any analysis of how this new tax would impact the ability of all our local governments to fund other (perhaps even more crucial) needs in the future.
The Pagosa Springs community could easily spend $44.6 million on maintenance of our road system, for example… or on other challenges, such as our affordable housing crisis. Many observers have noted the absence of affordable housing options in Pagosa Springs — which is making it more and more difficult for working families to remain in the community. Thus far, the BOCC has committed $50,000 to addressing the problem, and has promised to commit no funding at all in 2019.
The housing crisis might be the primary reason why we are seeing “Now Hiring” signs at so many business entrances around town.
But we are not offered those options by our current County leadership. We are offered only a chance increase our sales tax, while authorizing the County to spend up to $44.55 million on “Justice System Capital Improvements”… and on no other community needs.