Town voters received a special ballot in the mail last week, asking them to vote on Ballot Question A. The mail ballots must be returned by July 14 in order to be counted.
A “YES” vote will give Town taxpayers the right to approve or disapprove multi-million dollar tax breaks for developers such as the Springs Resort & Spa, the company that approached the Town government last summer requesting $79 million dollars in tax breaks over the next 25 years. The resort is owned by EPR Properties, based in Kansas City, MO.
The Pagosa Springs Town Council voted 4-3 last November to declare the 27 riverside acres of vacant land south of the Springs Resort to be “dangerous blight”, and created a new government agency known as the Urban Renewal Authority (URA).
The URA can give millions of tax breaks to corporations and developers through a mechanism called ‘Tax Increment Financing’ or ‘TIF’. The URA could require other local government districts — including the Archuleta School District, Pagosa Fire Protection District, Upper San Juan Health Service District (Pagosa Medical Center), Upper San Juan Library District, Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) as well as Archuleta County — to provide these subsidies over a 25 year period.
The following graph was provided to the Town Council by the Springs Resort & Spa last summer, showing a request for more than $79 million in tax breaks.
As presented last summer, the ‘Pagosa Springs Plaza’ proposed:
- Not a single unit of affordable or workforce housing
- All residential units could potentially be vacation rentals
- No major employer offering middle class wages and benefits.
- $9 million in school taxes returned to the developers’ pockets
Currently, Town voters have no control over these massive tax giveaways. But a group of downtown residents petitioned the Town Council to place Ballot Question A before the Town taxpayers. If Town voters vote “YES” on Ballot Question A, Town government will be required to get voter approval before giving TIF tax breaks to corporations and developers.
A “YES” vote on Ballot Question A will give Town taxpayers control over one-sided corporate welfare projects.
A “YES” vote will give voters the ability to require real community benefits such as affordable housing and job guarantees in return for taxpayer subsidies.