The Town Council took those of us in the audience — a small audience — on a bit of a roller coaster ride last night, when they began debating a dozen potential political questions to place before the voters on the April 2022 Town election.
In my experience, past Town Councils have rarely started debating ballot questions in October. Typically, these discussions have taken place in December or even January, leading up to election season. (This election will also allow town residents to compete for three Council seats and for Mayor. Petitions will be available in January.)
But this year is different, in so many ways, from other more ‘normal’ years in the past. For one thing, the Town government has been collecting record tax revenues for the past two years. The projected total sales tax collections for 2021, according to Town Manager Andrea Phillips, would put the annual revenues at about 22% more than what was budgeted a year ago.
And “what was budgeted a year ago” already predicted a significant growth of Town government.
Personally, I’m delighted that the Council wanted to begin this discussion about possible ballot questions in October — because I’m part of an activist group that plans to petition a couple of questions onto the April ballot, if the Town Council declines to do that on our behalf.
The questions our citizen group wants to the town voters to address:
1. Should 50% of the existing Town Lodgers Tax revenues be re-directed away from tourism marketing, and allocated specifically to encouraging and facilitating workforce housing?
2. Should a new excise tax be levied on STRs (Short-Term Rentals, vacation rentals) licensed within the town, with the revenues allocated specifically to encouraging and facilitating workforce housing?
The motive behind these two proposed ballot questions is a belief, held by many in Archuleta County, that we have too many tourists, and not enough affordable homes for the workforce.
Council member Nicole Pitcher summarized that belief concisely last night during the debate.
“The two items that I would most want to see on the ballot would be a re-allocation of the tourism fund, and also an excise on Short-Term Rentals…
She discouraged her fellow Council members from placing too many questions on the same April ballot. Specifically, she argued against ballot questions related to the Urban Renewal Authority, and against a possible additional tax on marijuana sales.
As the debate unfolded, we heard the Council dismiss all of the twelve potential ballot questions, except for three.
1. Asking the voters if they support an increase in the Lodgers Tax, with the money to be used for workforce housing.
2. Asking the voters if they support re-allocating a portion of the existing Lodgers Tax, with the money to be used for workforce housing instead of tourism marketing.
3. Asking the voters if they support a new excise tax on vacation rentals, to be collected within the town limits.
During the discussion, we heard numerous comments from the Council, suggesting that the Pagosa Springs Area Tourism Board ought to be consulted about the Lodgers Tax questions. We also heard that the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners should be consulted about a possible county-wide excise tax, which would generate considerably more annual revenues than a town-only excise tax — considering that 80% of the licensed STRs are located outside the town limits.
Curiously enough, only one member of the Tourism Board showed up for last night’s meeting to participate in the public discussion. I say, “curiously enough”, because the Tourism Board stands to see hundreds of thousands of dollars pulled out of their budget and redirected to housing efforts. One might expect them to show up, and weigh in during such a debate.
On the other hand, the Tourism Board had already voted, at their own meeting last month, against spending any of their $1.2 million budget for housing in 2022. So perhaps the Council already knew where that group’s sentiments lay.
Another group that did not appear last night was the Board of County Commissioners. I know that the commissioners were aware of this scheduled Council discussion, because I had personally invited all three of them — Alvin Schaaf, Warren Brown, and Ronnie Maez — to attend last night’s meeting. Whether the BOCC could support a county-wide excise tax on vacation rentals is not yet clear. (At least, I’ve not yet heard a vigorous discussion of that idea at any BOCC meetings.)
As I mentioned, the Council’s two-hour debate about ballot questions felt a bit like a roller coaster ride, with thoughtful points argued from various perspectives.
At the conclusion of the discussion, Council member Mat deGraaf volunteered to meet with the citizens who’ve proposed two ballot questions, to see if a compromise proposal can be developed. Some language to present to the voters? Something at least a majority of the Council members can endorse?
The Town staff was also directed to bring forward sample ballot language for the Council’s November 2 meeting.
I’ve never been good at predicting what the seven members of our municipal council will decide, when faced with a controversial issue.
I’ve had a bit more luck predicting what the 1,000 town voters will decide, when faced with a controversial ballot question.
So I will stick my neck out and suggest that, if the Council ultimately decides to ask the town voters to redirect money away from tourism marketing and spend it instead to support our local workforce, the majority will approve of that idea.
And if the Council asks the town voters to establish a new excise tax on STRs, and use the revenues to encourage workforce housing, my prediction is for a “Yes” vote.
As has been mentioned in these Daily Post editorials in the recent past, our community has spent over $10 million subsidizing the tourism industry over the past decade. And where did that lead us? To where we are now, in the midst of a housing crisis.
Time to put our money, for a while at least, into addressing our community’s biggest problem. Which, in my humble opinion, is NOT a lack of tourism.
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.