Four years ago, American voters went to the polls to select federal, state and local leaders from whatever candidates happened to appear on the ballot, and also express their opinions on various amendments and propositions. Here in Archuleta County, the voters supported the Republican candidates, as is typical in this generally-conservative rural community. Republican Alvin Schaaf was picked as County Commissioner from District 3, Elsa White won the Treasurer’s spot, and Rich Valdez was reelected as Sheriff.
The 2018 ballot also included two local tax increase measures.
The Archuleta School District had asked for a ‘mill levy override’ expected to increase local property taxes, and public school funding, by a total of about $1.7 million per year.
Colorado is required, by its constitution, to provide for “a thorough and uniform system of free public education”, and the School Finance Act of 1994, amended regularly, largely controls the amount of property taxes collected in each school district. Historically, funding for public schools came primarily from local property taxes, but following a series of court cases nationwide, state legislatures were required to adopt laws providing state money for public schools to ensure local school districts with limited property value received an equitable amount of funding.
Typically, local taxpayers have some control over their own mill levy rates, but the base property tax mill levy for financing public schools in Colorado communities is set by the state government, not by the local voters. Many Colorado communities, however, have approved ‘mill levy overrides’ that provide special-purpose funding over and above the money provided by the School Finance Act.
Here in Archuleta County, the taxpayers had never been asked to approve a mill levy override, but in 2018, the Archuleta School District concluded a two-year community engagement process, and with support from a task force of maybe two dozen local activists, the School Board decided the time was right to ask for a tax increase.
The School Board was well aware that our generally-conservative rural community often rejected tax increase proposals. In fact, one of the worst defeats of a local tax increase request had been suffered by the District itself, in 2012, when Ballot Issue 3A lost by an embarrassing 3-to-1 margin.
No one likes to lose by a 3-to-1 margin. The District certainly didn’t need, or want, another embarrassing defeat like that one. Thus, the two-year community engagement effort, leading up to the 2018 mill levy override vote.
Two days after the November 2018 election, the weekly Pagosa Springs SUN posted the following graphic on their front page:
We note, in particular, Ballot Issue 5A, the Archuleta School District mill levy override, supported by 61% of the voting taxpayers. Not quite a 2-to-1 margin of victory, but pretty darn close.
We should also note the results of another tax increase measure that appeared on the same 2018 ballot. Ballot Issue 1A.
The Archuleta Board of County Commissioners had asked the taxpayers, in 2017, for a one-percent sales tax increase to fund a rather large investment in new law enforcement facilities, to include a 54-bed jail and a new courthouse. That request had been defeated at the polls in 2017, by a narrow margin.
Thinking that the narrow defeat had been the result of too-little campaigning, the BOCC placed essentially the same proposal in front of the voters in 2018. A one-percent sales tax increase, to fund perhaps $40 million worth of law enforcement expenditures over the next 20 years or so.
The $40 million figure is my own estimate, not a number publicized by the BOCC’s campaign committee.
As we can see in the graphic above, the voters rejected the BOCC’s sales tax increase — for a second time — by a margin of about 420 votes.
I personally find this 2018 election instructive, and enlightening, for a couple of reasons.
For one thing, we had two tax increase measures on the same ballot — one proposing a property tax increase, and one proposing a sales tax increase. The property tax increase was approved by a 2-to-1 margin. The sales tax increase was defeated.
For another thing, the School District had conducted a very public two-year community engagement process, complete with community presentations, meetings., and discussions. The BOCC had appointed a small, select committee, just a few months before the election, with the assignment, not to engage and learn from the community, but rather to develop a successful campaign for a preconceived idea.
When the ballots were counted this past Tuesday, for the 2022 general election, the sales tax increase proposed by the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners lost by an embarrassing 3-to-1 margin.
One of the worst losses for a tax measure in recent Pagosa history.
What happened? How can a group of intelligent government leaders and staff be so out of tune with the community?
Even the highly controversial ‘justice system’ tax increase proposal, in 2018, had lost by only 450 votes. But on Tuesday, Ballot Issue 1A lost by 3,460 votes. (Unofficial results.)
Here, we are listening to Pagosa Springs Town Council member Brooks Lindner, speaking at a special Town Council meeting on September 1. Mr. Lindner, during his term as a School Board member, had helped spearhead the District’s successful mill levy override campaign in 2018. He addressed his fellow Council members concerning a proposed resolution in support of the County’s Ballot Issue 1A:
“I don’t think this has a chance of passing. Period. And I’ll just state that, and give you the reasons why I believe that.
“For one thing, I don’t think we have enough information and enough research about the sales tax, and its impacts on a community. So, I think we’re flying blind, right there.
“Secondly, I’m not sure of the exact voter numbers, but I believe at least 80% of our community is either registered Republican or Unaffiliated, and our Unaffiliated voters tend to be conservative. So we have about 80% of our community who are fiscally conservative. You put a sales tax on the ballot, you’re going to wake those people up, and they are going to be looking at this very hard.
“They’re going to be looking at all this ballot language; they are going to be looking at the research regarding the impacts of sales tax; and they are going to be coming out of the woodwork.
“Do we have enough momentum and enough information to combat that, at this point?
“The numbers from the [recent Magellan Strategies] survey were not that great. They really weren’t. Especially the part about trust…”
Disregarding Mr. Lindner’s perceptive and ultimately accurate prediction, the Town Council nevertheless passed their resolution supporting Ballot Issue 1A.
Embarrassing?