PHOTO: Tourists enjoy the ‘Hippie Dip’ hot springs pools, beside the San Juan River, summer, 2020.
Daily Post columnist Gary Beatty sent me a few thoughts about the idea of a government-funded ‘Event Center’ as proposed by the Pagosa Springs Area Tourism Board. The Archuleta Board of County Commissioners and the Town Council have approved the creation of a special ‘trust’ account aimed at funding some type of facility, somewhere in Archuleta County, at some point in the future.
Mr. Beatty lives most of the year in Florida, but owns property here. in Pagosa and loves to visit our ambitious little town.
He wrote:
Don’t know if our community leaders have considered the transportation aspect of the proposed ‘Events Center’ the Town Council is considering?
How are people going to get here?
For nearly a decade I was involved in the planning of an annual ‘event’ for the international veterans’ organization to which I belonged. For many additional years, I reviewed the contracts for those events — so I have experience in what organizations look for, in choosing a venue.
Within the top three items we considered was air travel accessibility to the event venue. If you don’t have major airport located nearby (within a shuttle bus or cab ride distance) you substantially increase the cost to participants who do not drive to the event.
Do our leaders have any idea what it cost to fly commercially into Pagosa? Are there even any commercial flights in/out?”
The answer to Mr. Beatty’s sensible question is: There are no commercial flights in/out of Pagosa Springs. The nearest commercial airport is in Durango, an hour to the west. At least two companies offer shuttle service to the airport. Pagosa Cab charges $110 for two people, one way. Wilderness Journeys charges $135 for two people, one way.
Mr. Beatty continues:
My organization would never have considered Pagosa for that reason alone.
So, are the ‘events’ planned going to be exclusively for those who can fly in, in a private plane? No offense, but Pagosa would not be the first choice of venue for an ‘event’ by people who fly private planes.
Just sayin’ …..
As the population of Pagosa Springs began to explode during the final decades of the 20th century, our local governments were flooded with increased taxes — particularly, increased sales tax revenues and increased property taxes.
What to do with all that extra money?
Of course, I am using the word “explode” in a slightly ironic sense. Yes, Archuleta County was, at one point during the 1990s, one of the “fastest growing” counties in the U.S., if you were talking about ‘percentages’.
Between 1980 and 2000, the county population increased by an average of 5% per year… from 3,664 to 9,898. A growth of 6,234 full-time residents, plus a fairly large number of second-home investors.
We might compare that the the population growth in, say, Coconino County, Arizona… the home of Flagstaff. Between 1980 and 2000, Coconino County grew by an average 2.2%, per year… from 75,008 to 116,320.
The percentage increase was greater in Archuleta County: 5%.
The actual number of new residents was dramatically larger in Coconino County: 41,312. Nearly seven times the actual number of people, as relocated to Archuleta County.
“Explode” means different things, in different contexts.
We might also note that Flagstaff actually does have a commercial airport, which enplaned 115,000 passengers in 2021. (During COVID).
We could also (if we were so inclined) use the word “explode” in reference to the growth of tax revenues for the Town of Pagosa Springs and the Archuleta County government between 1980 and 2000. The tax explosion came to an end in 2008, however, during the Great Recession, and our local government began cutting staff and putting off planned capital improvement projects… and necessary maintenance.
In 2008, the County had been collecting Lodging Tax revenues for a number of years already, and had been handing most of the money over to the Pagosa Springs Chamber of Commerce, to market the tourism industry. County Lodging Tax revenues in 2003 were about $93,000. In the midst of the Great Recession, the revenue had dropped to about $76,000. And then, to $60,000.
Just prior to the Great Recession, meanwhile, the Town voters approved a new 4.9% municipal Lodging Tax, and formed a Town Tourism Committee to allocate the money. (This was somewhat disappointing to the Chamber of Commerce). The first year of combined Town and County Lodging Tax revenues amounted to about $407,000.
By 2021, the amount hit $1.5 million. That appears to have been a high point, with Lodging Tax revenues falling in 2022 and 2023.
Looking at the situation for local working families… the recent ‘high point’ for housing — that is, the point at which housing was most affordable — was about 2010, also in the midst of the Great Recession, when Archuleta County had literally dozens of bank-owned, foreclosed homes on the market. But few people had enough money to buy them, except for a smattering of lucky investors.
You could easily make the claim that, the more money our Tourism Board has spent on subsidizing the tourist industry, the worse the housing situation has become in Pagosa Springs.
Yesterday in Part Four, I quoted Mat deGraaf speaking during the Town Council debate over earmarking $500,000 for the Tourism Board to spend on a future ‘Event Center’. Mr. deGraaf was one of the three Council members who voted against the resolution.
“I realize we’re very early in the process discussion, but a few years ago, when we really started looking at workforce housing, we got a verbal commitment from the Tourism Board that they were going to allocate funds towards that. So can you speak to the funds that are being allocated towards workforce housing — that are tourism driven?”
Tourism Director Jennie Green noted that $500,000 had been allocated by the Tourism Board, in the 2022 budget, to assist with workforce housing. “The Town Council didn’t specifically ask for any funds to be allocated towards housing in the 2023 budget.”
In fact, the Tourism Board, itself, had specifically voted in opposition to spending any of their $1.5 million budget in 2023, to address Pagosa’s housing crisis.
I still have a strange fondness for the Tyrannosaurus, although I’ve outgrown my childish desire to see a living, breathing one, ripping the roofs off the neighborhood houses.
