“Metro districts are independent government entities that provide public services, beyond what county and municipal governments can provide.
“One thing that metro districts can do, that HOAs can’t do, is apply for grants. They have to run that grant money through the County, but it’s much like HUTF (Highway User Tax Fund) funding; it’s returned to them and they can take their grant and move forward…
“There have been a lot of grant opportunities that have passed metro districts by, in the past few years, that were for infrastructure such as sewer plants. If a metro district wanted to build their own sewer plant, there are grants out there for that…
“It gives a lot of power, and the ability for to metro districts to control the roads within their community.
“There are pros and cons, but those are some of the pros.”
We’re listening, here, to Archuleta County Road & Bridge Manager Eric McRae, during a June 10 presentation to the three County commissioners, and as far as I can tell, this is essentially where his presentation had been headed for the past half-hour.
‘Metro districts’.
As we’ve noted in this editorial series, the residents living in several significant subdivisions in Archuleta County — Loma Linda, Aspen Springs, Alpha Rock Ridge, Colorado Timber Ridge, San Juan River Village and Piedra Park — have created metro districts over the past 40 years, primarily to control the maintenance of their own subdivision roads. Reportedly, these neighborhoods have some of the best maintained roads in the county.
It’s become abundantly clear to those who have been paying attention to our County Road & Bridge Department efforts over those same 40 years, that the population increase during that period — from 4,850 in 1985, to 14,500 in 2025 — has greatly impacted the wear and tear on the Archuleta County roads.
Although the tax revenues collected by the County government have increased over the same period, when we account for inflation and the rising cost of equipment and materials, the growth of the population and the growth in the number of vehicle trips on our road has exceeded the increase in available money.
Not only has County road maintenance failed to improve… it has, in fact, slipped further into ‘deferred maintenance mode’.
To make matters worse, the County has embarked, over the past decade, on the construction of new facilities, which has further drained their financial ability to properly maintain our road system.
Although I appreciate the fact that Mr. McRae had collected a nice, big pile of legal documents to inform and support his presentation on June 10, the math is actually pretty simple. Archuleta County can afford to maintain our arterial roads in fair condition, but cannot afford to also maintain our neighborhood roads.
Near the conclusion of the presentation, Mr. McRae asked the County’s interim attorney, Lance Ingalls, to help clarify the County’s legal obligations, where road maintenance is concerned.
“In general, because [county governments] are immune from liability for roadways, they also get with that — based on the case law — the discretion to determine what level of maintenance is appropriate on any roadway. And it’s common that counties have more road needs than they have budget to meet those needs.
“But it’s pretty clear in the case law on governmental immunity, that counties have the discretion to chose what level of maintenance is appropriate, and even to choose not to maintain — if that’s appropriate under the specific circumstances.
“And especially if you have budget limitations, and not everything that could be maintained, can in fact be maintained — those are decisions that a county simply has to make. You have to establish your priorities and do the best you can with what you’ve got. But you do have the discretion to maintain, and with that, you have the discretion not to maintain…”
Mr. McRae thanked the attorney for those comments.
Commissioner John Ranson:
“I know this is a big deal. It’s been a big deal since I moved here. And I don’t want to kick the can down the road; I think that’s what we’ve always done in the past. But this is large, for a lot of people.
“And I appreciate what you’ve done, to this point. This may be an opportunity for us to finally have the conversations with the public as to what this is really costing us, and what our alternatives are.
“I know we’re looking at using a bit of the tourism tax to help out, but this may go beyond that. I’m just thinking out loud, but maybe a meeting with the PLPOA, just to have discussions started. But it is a big, big decision for the whole community…”
Mr. McRae wanted to clarify that no decisions were being made, at the moment.
“These are discoveries about why we are where we are. It’s going to time some time and serious thought to decide how we want our community to be maintained.
“Before I took this position [as R&B Manager]… I lived down one of our notorious county roads and stood in front of Warren [Brown] some years ago, irate about our situation. So I want to see something better, that we can put our hands on, in the future…
“I feel like this is an opportunity to put something solid together…”
15 years ago, I interviewed the County’s Public Works Director and learned that, in his opinion, Archuleta County would never catch up on the backlog of road repairs, at the rate things were going.
15 years ago, I stood up before the Board of County Commissioners and urged them to begin educating residents about the benefits of metro districts, as a way to solve the community’s road issues. My words fell on deaf ears, back then.
Or perhaps the commissioners heard me, but didn’t feel capable of educating the community about such a challenging option?
I wonder how our current commissioners feel.