Some critics of Ballot Question A argue that the housing crisis is a ‘community problem’ and should be addressed by an increase in the sales tax, rather than by fees paid charged to STRs or other sectors of the tourism economy. Archuleta County Commissioner Ronnie Maez has been among the most vocal critics of Ballot Question A, while promoting, instead, the idea of a 1% sales tax increase. Commissioner Maez has argued that a fee placed on STRs will ultimately reduce the number of STRs and thus, the collected revenues…
…while a sales tax, he argues, will steadily increase.
Some of us might question the wisdom of putting additional taxes on the backs of the working families who are already suffering as a result of the STR industry’s success. Commissioner Maez might also want to consider that Archuleta County voters have rejected every sales tax increase measure placed on the ballot, for at least the past 20 years.
We’re not sure which critic of Ballot Question A has circulated a door hanger in downtown Pagosa, claiming to present voters with “The Facts”. Whoever the critic is, they did not include any identifying information — no name, no phone number, no affiliated group — on the door hanger. In fact, the “Vote No” door hanger directs the recipient with questions to “PagosaSprings.co.gov”… which happens to be the Town of Pagosa Springs’ government website. (I checked with Town Manager Andrea Phillips and she said the Town has no connection to the door hangers.)
The door hanger does include a few facts, along with some wishful thinking. It states, for example, that “27 of 30 surveyed business owners oppose” Ballot Question A. That particular survey was conducted by the Community Development Corporation, a local non-profit that has consistently derived nearly all its funding from the taxpayers. The CDC has not revealed whether or not the 30 “business owners” surveyed were, in fact, STR owners or management companies.
The hanger also states that “The Town has 254 workforce dwellings planned and in progress.” I’m not sure how this critic of Ballot Question A might be defining “workforce dwellings”, or where exactly we might see these 254 dwellings “in progress”. The Town government has been quoting the number “70 workforce dwellings in progress” during recent discussions, and has also been quoting the number needed to fully solve our crisis as “800 units”.
Back in 2008, various developers had obtained vested rights from the Town government to build more than 2,000 new homes on various subdivisions applying for annexation into the town. The new subdivisions seeking vested rights included Mountain Crossing, Reservoir River Ranch, the Springs Resort, Blue Sky Village, Blue Sky Ranch, and Pradera Point.
Not a single one of those 2,000-plus “planned and in progress” homes were ever built. Nor were these new neighborhoods necessarily designed to be affordable to working families, even back in 2008.
Which is to say, a project “planned and in progress” does not always result in a viable housing solution.
The statement, “Your elected officials oppose [Ballot Question A] due to the lack of open public meetings and thorough legal review,” also appears on the door hanger. In fact, this STR fees concept, which has been placed before the town voters for the April 5 election, was originally recommended by the Town Planning Commission in July 2021 at a public meeting. The Town Council then engaged in discussions of the concept, at several public meetings, but was unable to come up with language that a majority of the Council could agree upon. Many of the Council ideas involved putting the concept in front of the voters at the April 5 election.
Neither the Town Council nor the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners have taken an official position on Ballot Question A.
The door hanger also proposes that “Community problems need community solutions.” Apparently, the anonymous person distributing the door hangers doesn’t view Ballot Question A as a “community solution”… although they clearly state that it’s a “community problem”. The critics of Ballot Question A — including the editor of the weekly Pagosa Springs SUN — want to complain about a citizens group trying to address the community’s most serious social and economic issue… without offering any kind of alternative solutions.
Two issues the anonymous door hanger does not address: the unfair property tax loophole from which all STRs benefit, and the disappearance of affordably-price homes since the STR industry arrived on the scene and bought up 1,200 formerly-residential homes, now owned mainly by people who do not live in Archuleta County. These are two key issues Ballot Question A hopes to help resolve, but the critics have no response to those issues.
Passage of Ballot Question A by the town electors will address only STRs located within the town limits, and will raise perhaps $600,000 to be used to support workforce housing projects. But only about 150 of the community’s 1,200 STRs are located inside the town.
$600,000 is not much money, really, when a typical Pagosa Lakes home now sells for $450,000. But a similar fee increase, applied to STRs located in the unincorporated county — STRs which also benefit from Colorado’s tax loophole — could easily raise more than $2 million dollars that could be used for addressing the housing crisis.
Such a sensible move depends on action by the Board of County Commissioners. Based on recent discussions… no one, I think, expects sensible and meaningful action from the commissioners on the STR issue… and historically, the BOCC has not honored citizen initiative petitions that might allow county residents to participate directly in solving the crisis.
But the Town voters might take sensible action, by voting ‘Yes’ on Ballot Question A… and dropping off your ballot at Town Hall by April 5.
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.