We concluded Part Three, yesterday, with this quote from Pagosa Springs Medical Center CEO Rhonda Webb, spoken at a March 2025 public presentation about PSMC’s financial future.
“PSMC will continue to care for the Medicaid population.”
This comment relates to a reduction in Medicaid funding specified in the One Big Beautiful Bill passed by our Republican Congress last year, which threatens the financial viability of hospitals all across the country.
When coming across a headline like “Another Hell of a Year” — the title of this editorial series — you might assume you’re going to hear about “tough times during the year just ended”. Which would be 2025.
But it’s possible that 2026 will also be “Another Hell of a Year.”
Yesterday, we shared an article by Colorado Newsline’s Sara Wilson about the Trump administration freezing child care funding, and other types of funding, in five blue states: Colorado, California, Minnesota, New York and Illinois. That article included a quote from Colorado Department of Human Services spokesperson Haysel Hernandez.
“Should these funding sources change, we remain committed to supporting our families in Colorado and will continue to advocate for the appropriate programs and services to help our families thrive.”
Our two local governments — the Town of Pagosa Springs and Archuleta County — have been generally supportive of the community’s child care industry, which consists of basically three components:
1. Five licensed institutional early childhood centers (Wings Early Childhood Center, Seeds of Learning, Tri-County Head Start, Our Savior Lutheran Pre-K, and most recently, a Pre-K operation at the Pagosa Springs Elementary School)
2. Home-based licensed child care operations (Atika Safi Home Daycare, Tiff’s Lil’ Cubs Childcare,
Teresa Mael Home Daycare)
3. Non-licensed family, friends, neighbors.
Both governments recognize that a lack of affordable child care keeps workers — mainly young mothers — out of the labor pool, which has a potentially negative effect on the local economy. The state of Colorado has also been active in funding child care programs and training, for the same reason.
The Town Council in particular has been earmarking funds in their annual budgets, over the past decade, to support licensed early childhood care, primarily, and they have earmarked funding again in their 2026 budget.
At the Town Council meeting this past Tuesday, the Council had invited Laura Mijares, executive director of the The Early Childhood Council of Archuleta County (ECCAC) to explain the current child care landscape, and how the Town funding could best be used.
During that discussion, Council member Gary Williams — who has been following the early childhood situation closely for several years — asked Ms. Mijares what priorities she would recommend when considering how to best spend $88,000 to support the child care industry.
Ms. Mijares:
“Your prioritization doesn’t talk about licensure. And while I don’t suggest that we have only licensed people providing child care, I think non-licensed caregivers should be encouraged to interact with ECCAC. So if we have — we call them ‘friends-families-neighbors’ — operating on the side, then I would encourage them to talk with me. I can help them jump through hoops to get licensed. So supporting existing slots and potential slots are very important.”
In the past, one of the Town’s top priorities has been the creation of additional “slots” to accommodate families who’ve had their children on waiting lists of up to 70 children. A report from a few years back showed a local shortage of child care slots numbering in the hundreds.
During the discussion, Council member Williams made a comment that caught me by surprise.
“…There’s excess capacity now? Apparently?”
Ms. Mijares:
“We don’t know if this was a COVID-baby something-or-other, but all of our centers used to have, like, 70-plus waiting lists.
“And now we have an excess of [unfilled] slots.
“We did see two preschool rooms open at the Elementary School, but that doesn’t account for where all the babies are in 2026.”
Council member Brook Lindner asked how large the non-licensed “friends-families-neighbors” component of the industry might be? Apparently, it’s sizable.
Perhaps the non-licensed caregivers are more affordable?
According to the U.S. Department of Labor data, tuition for an infant or toddler with a licensed caregiver in Archuleta County costs about $13,000 a year, and for a preschooler, about $11,000 a year.
Doing a quick online search, I could find only two licensed caregivers in Pagosa who accept infants and toddlers. Ms. Mijares indicated that this was an unfilled need in the community: infant and toddler child care.
Not much of a need for 4-year-old slots, these days, apparently. But maybe there’s a need to reduce the cost of child care for parents, while also increasing the wages paid in that industry?
Or maybe we just need more “friends-families-neighbors” to step up and help out.
At the Tuesday work session of the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners, the three commissioners — Veronica Medina, Warren Brown and John Ranson — discussed their priorities for 2026, and one of the issues awaiting a decision is whether to place a measure before the voters in November, to increase the County Lodgers Tax. Such a ballot measure could ask to increase the tax paid by tourists from the existing 1.9% to as much as 6%.
A 2025 Colorado law allowed the increase in County Lodgers Tax collections, with voter approval.
Several Colorado communities passed such measures last November, dedicating the additional government revenues to community needs like road maintenance, child care, housing, and emergency services. The Archuleta BOCC declined to put a measure on last November’s ballot, but now sounds willing to seriously consider such a measure.
Commissioner Ranson threw out the figure “5.9%” as having his support, with most of the revenues going to roads, and perhaps 10% of the total going to “child care”. Commissioner Medina indicated her support for a “4%” tax, with most going to roads and portions going to “child care” and to “emergency services”.
The Town currently collects a 4.9% Lodgers Tax within the town limits, and the Town Council could ask the voters to increase that amount, at a future election.
Is the most pressing need in the child care industry?