As of this writing, the Task Force feels that our community is still in a state of economic recovery and has not yet moved onto a stage of economic growth.
— from a July 10, 2020 report by the Pagosa Springs/Archuleta County COVID-19 Economic Recovery Task Force
Back in March, a group of 21 people convened as the official “Pagosa Springs/Archuleta County COVID-19 Economic Recovery Task Force”. The group met weekly through a virtual meeting platform for about two months from March to June and then moved to less frequent meetings. Town Manager Andrea Phillips took minutes and served as a conduit to send out meeting invitations, information, and presenters.
(For a thoughtful discussion about the importance of meetings, see today’s essay by Daily Post contributor Gary Beatty.)
From the group’s July 10 Recommendations Report:
Task Force members were selected to be as inclusive of the various sectors of the economy as possible. Representatives included business owners and managers, local elected officials, Town staff, San Juan Basin Public Health, Chamber of Commerce staff, Pagosa Springs Medical Center, School District and representatives from partner agencies engaged in economic and community development.
Throughout the time that it met, the Task Force discussed the many ways in which COVID-19 (and the resulting business closures and new regulations) impacted the local economy. Impacts range from short term to longer term in scope, and the full extent of which (as of this writing) is not yet known. Closures of businesses and changes in travel, customer shopping habits, are being seen, or even magnified in some cases.
During that same period, from March from July, the Town and County governments apparently collected record levels of sales tax revenues. It also appears that the Pagosa Springs real estate market has been surprisingly active, with buyers often snapping up homes as soon as they hit the market.
The Zillow real estate website describes the market as “Very Hot.” The median price for homes listed in Archuleta County, says Zillow, is $449,000. The median price for homes recently sold is about $340,000. These are sale prices and offered-for-sale prices.
The sale prices will be used by the Archuleta County Assessor to establish the next round of property taxes valuations, suggesting that property taxes will likely increase somewhat in the near future.
At the bottom of the Great Recession, in 2012, the median home value in the county (according to Zillow) was around $210,000. This past March, the Zillow estimate of home values hit $325,000 — a 55% increase from 2012. Zillow says the values have dropped slightly since March, and the median value is estimated, at the moment, at about $320,000.
Then we have parts of the economy that seem to be struggling somewhat.
The “Pagosa Springs/Archuleta County COVID-19 Economic Recovery Task Force” included an interesting mix of local folks. Of the 21 members, 9 were business owners or managers; 11 were government officials. One member represented two nonprofit corporations: the Chamber of Commerce and the Pagosa Springs Community Development Corporation, otherwise known as the CDC.
No member of the task force was listed as “an employee”. Perhaps that was an oversight?
Yet the group said, about themselves: “Task Force members were selected to be as inclusive of the various sectors of the economy as possible.”
Here are the community’s crucial priorities, as assessed by 11 government officials and 9 business owners/managers:
Mid and Longer Term:
- Continue to explore ways to further broadband expansion and development. Economic growth and recovery is integral to having a resilient local economy. In order to support he businesses that are here now, encouraging teleworking and distance learning, and encourage businesses to relocate to the area, more robust, reliant and competitively priced broadband is required. This is not a new goal of the community, and has seen recent investment from Town and County, but more needs to be done in this area.
- Use data to analyze trends for decision making purposes. There are a lot of questions that arose from the group that would be helpful to answer. For example, what is the true impact of second home owners on the local economy? How much do online sales account for sales tax revenues? Will rural areas become the next “hot spots” for people wanting to relocate from cities? What sectors were most impacted in 2020? What is the long term job loss and personal income loss from the pandemic and how long will it last? What impact did slow tourism in March-May have on local spending and revenues?…
- Hire Economic Recovery Coordinator and Task them with Leading Implementation of Priorities. A grant opportunity is available to allow the CDC to hire a Coordinator through Region 9. As capacity to move new projects forward is not available through the CDC, this additional staffing will help with implementation of this Task Force’s recommendations (plus others from CDC and partners).
- Continue focus on economic diversification.Tourism has been a driving economic force in the community for many years. Growing our own primary businesses and helping them to expand locally is a proven economic growth strategy. This is a key area of focus, along with recruiting other diverse employers to the area.
As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve been a “business owner” for most of my life. I’ve also been an “employee” on occasion… now and then… in private industry, in government positions, or working for a nonprofit.
I’m sure one’s life experiences help to form one’s understanding of terms like “job” and “resiliency”… as well as terms like, “community” and “growth”. But a common assumption seems to be, that only business owners and government officials truly understand the world.