Photo: Archuleta County Public Works Director Mike Torres presenting the Board of County Commissioners
The economy of Pagosa Springs has changed considerably during my 30 years living here. Before I arrived, the economy had been based mainly on ranching and the timber industry, and population growth had not been a concern. The Archuleta County population had been 3,590 at the 1920 Census… and 3,664 in 1980… with even fewer residents during most of the intervening years.
But Pagosa didn’t dry up and blow away, as some rural towns did during the 20th century. And starting in about 1980, a small set of vibrant industries were kicking the economy into second gear… and then, into third gear…
Home construction, real estate, recreation, and tourism.
By 2010, all four industries were revealing themselves to be sources of problems. One of the problems, which finally led to a report by Region 9 Economic Development District’s Donna Graves in 2016, was a second-home market that was undermining the fabric of traditional family neighborhoods, by erecting up relatively large homes that sat vacant for most of the year.
Her report included some interesting comments.
In 2015, an estimated 41% of residential properties were owned by people whose primary residence is outside of the county – 2nd Homeowners.
The questions of what these people are doing with their properties now, and what do they intend to do with them in the future are important because they impact planning for schools, medical services, public safety, recreation and other amenities in the future…
Ms. Graves predicted a rather aggressive population growth rate: about 3% per year. She also predicted “Household growth will be dominated (76%) by households without children,” and that “Archuleta County will experience significant (97%) growth in households 65 and over (Baby Boomers) and 93% in households age 25 to 44 (Millennials)…”
Eight years later, we find that her predictions have missed the mark by quite a bit. Population growth has been less that 1.5% since 2015, and school enrollment (indicating Millennial families with children) has been flat.
She also wrote:
As the numbers of second homes increase, and the land available for development decreases, a dilemma is created. Second homes have generated the need for more workers, but the rise in property values and subsequent housing costs have made it difficult for the workers to live within a reasonable distance of their place- of-work. Many of these workers are in service industries, which often do not pay wages high enough to allow them to purchase or even rent housing in a high demand market. Affordable housing or rental unit developments have not been a popular choice in many neighborhoods with a “not in my backyard” mentality.
This is not merely a ‘NIMBY’ issue in Archuleta County. Most of the available parcels in Archuleta County are within homeowners associations that specifically prohibit certain types of affordable housing, and apartments. So whether we want working families in our backyards or not, they are unlikely to appear there.
There is a perceived housing crisis in which there is a shortage of available/affordable workforce housing. Some local officials and residents think that part of the reason is that 2nd Homeowners are renting their properties out as short term rentals using popular internet sites as a sales tool, and local property managers to provide services to vacationers. These properties are no longer available to locals looking for long term rentals, nor are they entering the market as homes that could be purchased.
Writing in her ‘What’s Working’ column for the Colorado Sun last summer, reporter Tamara Chuang noted that the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment had calculated the highest paying — and lowest paying — jobs in Colorado. Of the 14 highest paying jobs, 13 were physicians, nurses and, especially, neurologists. Medical professionals, working in Colorado’s highest paid industry.
We have a few of those in Pagosa. Not neurologists, but physicians and nurses.
What we have many more of — thanks in part to our government-subsidized tourism industry — are the very lowest paying jobs in the state, including fast food workers, restaurant workers, recreation attendants, cashiers, maids and housekeeping staff, hotel and resort clerks, and home health aides.
The same day that Pagosa Fire Protection District Chief Robert Bertram reported to the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners on his District’s proposal to impose impact fees on new construction, the BOCC held a regular meeting in the afternoon and approved two proposals brought to them by County Public Works Director Mike Torres:
C. Consideration Of Approval Of A Wage Increase For Road & Bridge Staff
This agenda item is for the consideration and approval to increase Road & Bridge staff pay by 5%. This will increase the Road & Bridge budget by $72,000.00 annually and will provide raises to 19 employees.
D. Consideration Of Approval Of A Wage Increase For Solid Waste Staff employees
This item is for the consideration and approval to increase Solid Waste staff pay by 10%. This will increase the Solid Waste budget $47,994.24 and will provide raises to 10 employees.
Ever since I started writing for the Daily Post — and, I imagine, long before that — local leaders have talked about “diversifying the economy and bringing in higher paying jobs.” 20 years later, we have some evidence of higher paying jobs at the Pagosa Springs Medical Center, which opened its doors in 2008. And also, higher pay for our school teachers, thanks to a recent voter-approved mill levy override.
Could it be that our other government agencies — like the Fire District — are doing their best to catch up?
And maybe that’s the only way we can have a economy where families can earn the $93,000 a year recently estimated by Region 9 as the actual cost of living for a family of four in Archuleta County.
If we’re all willing to pay through the nose, through higher property taxes, and higher sales taxes, and additional impact fees and capital investment fees…
…Would that finally produce a functional and diverse community?
Or would we be shooting ourselves in the foot?