So, a few words from Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) customers, and a few words from actor Harrison Ford. And of course, a few words from yours truly.
As mentioned in Part One, the PAWSD board of directors held a ‘special meeting’ on Thursday, July 31, and was warned — at the conclusion of the meeting — that the PAWSD staff has received written and verbal complaints about the Affordable Housing Surcharge that is added to monthly customer bills for water and wastewater services. These surcharges have been in place in 2020, but were increased by the PAWSD board this year.
The current water surcharge is $1.87. The wastewater surcharge is $3.57.
The surcharge is designed to cover impacts to the PAWSD budget, when fee waivers are given to organizations and corporations engaged in building workforce housing in Archuleta County. The waivers are given to projects that serve households making ‘less than average income’. The projects are required to include deed restrictions or other types of controls, to ensure the properties do not later become ‘market rate’ housing.
But some people have complained about the surcharges.
Disclosure: I serve as a volunteer on the PAWSD board, but this editorial reflects only my own opinions and not necessarily the opinions of the PAWSD board or staff.
The complaints typically sound something like the letter to the editor from a local resident that appeared on the weekly Pagosa Springs SUN on April 3, 2025, which reads, in part:
This month, when l received my water bill, l noticed a new ‘surcharge’ for ‘affordable housing water’ that was not there before. Well, normally l pay through the banks, in cash, but because l felt it necessary to get an answer, as to what this was about, l decided to go to the actual water company on Lyn Avenue, and ask them about it. Unbeknownst to me that this time, they had a locked gate, and a ‘call button’. So l pushed the button, and let them know my concerns, and the woman that originally took the call, transferred me to another woman, who then explained that the new surcharge was added by the board of directors and they took a vote on it, approved it as a MANDATORY addition.
l even went as far as to ask her if this new ‘surcharge’ was a tax… and she said, “No, but it was mandatory… and voted on by the board…”
…Thank you for you reading this, and putting up with my complaints…
This customer is entitled to a bit of clarification. The Affordable Housing surcharge was put in place in 2020 by the PAWSD board, but was originally about 20 cents for water and about 75 cents for wastewater. The amount has increased since then, to address an increased number of fee waivers requested by organizations and corporation now building workforce housing in Archuleta County.
“Affordable housing” has been a special concern of state and local governments in Colorado for about 20 years, and Colorado laws specifically grant governments the ability to reduce building fees, if a project will produce affordable housing, generally defined as “affordable for a household earning less that the area’s median income.”
The Town of Pagosa Springs reduced certain building fees for workforce housing about 6 years ago, but the Town did not charge its citizens an additional fee to cover the lost revenue. They simply covered the subsidies using existing tax revenues. The Town has also purchased well over $1 million in vacant property to support workforce housing, but again, these purchases were paid for out of the General Fund.
In essence, the Town taxpayers funded these programs, but no evidence of these expenditures appeared on their sewer bills.
The Archuleta County government has been dedicating taxpayer funds to support workforce housing for about 4 years, including property tax rebates and donations of vacant land. Once again, these expenditures have been funded out of the County’s general revenues. No surcharge has appeared on any bills, but the taxpayers are nevertheless funding these programs.
The PAWSD board could have chosen to fund the building fee waivers in the same way, out of general revenues, without letting customers know what they were paying for. But the PAWSD board decided to put the cost of this program out in the open, in plain sight, on the customers’ monthly bill… as a surcharge.
As many people know, the average household income for a working family in Pagosa Springs is around $55,000. But Region 9 Economic Development District has calculated that a working family needs to earn $109,000 a year to meet all their family needs. This indicates that most working households in Archuleta County are not meeting all their family needs.
Here are two other samples of PAWSD customer complaints:
…I want to express my disappointment in the Affordable Housing water surcharges. Prices rise, inflation rises and your board arbitrarily imposes extra charges that go to who knows what, controlled by who knows whom. I think these charges are wrong, and even if I agreed, I would want to know there is legitimate oversight to their use…
…Half of the time people that need this just DON’T want to work!
I understand that some people believe our working families in Pagosa are living off government handouts.
If you talk to most any employer in Pagosa Springs, you will hear that it has become ever more difficult to find qualified employees. This problem is not primarily because working families don’t want jobs. It’s because the jobs here don’t pay enough to cover their expenses — primarily, according to Region 9, housing.
I shared a little bit about actor Harrison Ford in Part One. His Variety magazine interview last month with reporter Angelique Jackson focused mainly on his numerous acting roles, but near the conclusion of the interview, Ms. Jackson noted that Mr. Ford had actively supported one of our recent Presidential candidates: Kamala Harris.
How does he feel about the current political situation? His response:
The pendulum doth swing in both directions, and it’s on a healthy swing to the right at the moment. And, as nature dictates, it will swing back.
But currently the issue is not who we are, but that we’re not who we used to be, because we’ve been purposefully disaggregated into serviceable political units. And that has caused the middle to become frayed and tenuous, and the middle is where we belong. Not because it’s banal and safe, but because it’s fair. Compromise is fair and honest.
Now, because we’ve been disaggregated in this way, we’re having a hard time finding commonality. But if you look at the economy, you’ll figure out where the commonality is — it’s where it always was.
Rich get richer, and poor get poorer. And that ain’t exactly right.
Can we agree with Mr. Ford, that it ain’t exactly right?