Photo: The oxidation ditch at PAWSD’s Vista Wastewater Treatment Plant.
A friend sent me a screenshot of a social media conversation that illustrated the confused online conversations that sometimes pass for thoughtful discourse.
One of the postings in the chain of comments began with this statement:
PAWSD takes our money, and sends it into a black hole.
As a member of the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) board of directors, I feel a certain loyalty to the agency that certain PAWSD customers obviously don’t share. That being said, I appreciate citizens asking the hard questions. The only way to keep a government bureaucracy from running amuck is by asking the hard questions and by electing the best possible leaders.
What I appreciate much less, is people dispensing misinformation, out of pure ignorance or spite.
The “black hole” comment had been shared in reaction to this posting by a Pagosa resident:
Would like some clarity here concerning water fees…
PAWS increased our usage fees
PAWS increased our tap fees
I guess we voted to increase sales tax by 1% to fund water (I’m ignorant on this so help me out if I’m wrong.)
To my knowledge Pagosa has a fairly cheap lodging tax compared to other resort towns — I know these funds are tricky on how the money can be used but can we not increase the lodging tax for water infrastructure to provide relief for locals on usage and tap fees?
I imagine many PAWSD customers would appreciate some clarity, in the face of fee increases.
Monthly PAWSD fees for drinking water will increase by 3% this year. About the rate of inflation.
Customers who are directly connected to PAWSD sewer treatment — mostly, the folks in the Pagosa Lakes area — will see their bills increase by 7% this year. The PAWSD staff had originally recommended a 10% increase for wastewater services, but the Board settled on a lower 7% increase.
PAWSD also treats wastewater coming from the Town’s independent sanitation district, Pagosa Springs Sanitation General Improvement District (PSSGID). A decade ago, the Town was still treating its own sewage, but the system was polluting the San Juan River (according to state standards) and PAWSD and the PSSGID collaborated on a seven-mile-long, uphill pumping system to send the Town’s sewage to the Vista Treatment Plant.
The pumping system has been nothing but headaches for the Town ever since.
Unlike Pagosa Lakes wastewater customers, who now pay $50.18 per month, the Town pays a bulk rate to PAWSD based on the actual cost of treating the pumped sewage from Town customers — which could have been a great deal for Town customers, if the pumping system had functioned as promised. Which it has not.
As the result of many factors, Town residential customers currently pay $71 per month. (Business, lodging. school and government fees are calculated based on the estimated sewage generated. It’s complicated.)
Last November, the Town voters approved a new 1% municipal sales tax, to be used to address the failing sewer pipes within the PSSGID, and to pay for a downtown sewage treatment plant, planned for the future, to replace the uphill pumping system. Everyone who shops within the town limits, or stays at a lodging establishment within the town limits, now pays the extra 1% sales tax. Nearly all our retail businesses and motels are within the town limits.
It will be mainly PSSGID customers who will ultimately benefit from the new tax. That includes, as mentioned, businesses, lodging, schools, government offices, etc.
How are we feeling about a 1% sales tax increase? Or a 3% increase in PAWSD water bills? Or a 7% increase in PAWSD sewer bills?
For many, these increases — on top of inflation in general — can feel oppressive.
Speaking as a downtown resident who voted “Yes” on the 1% sales tax, the alternative was even worse. The Town had calculated that my monthly sewer bill would need to increase to $200 a month, if the sales tax increase was not approved.
Many downtown businesses are struggling this year, thanks to the CDOT highway project. And statistically, downtown families live closer to the poverty line than the rest of the community. Half of downtown households have an income of less that $33,000 a year. A $200 monthly sewer bill would definitely feel oppressive.
Hopefully, the guy who asked these questions on social media… learned something from the social media responses, and perhaps also from this editorial.
Yes, PAWSD has steadily increased fees.
PSSGID has steadily increased fees for Town customers.
Archuleta County has steadily increased fees. The Fire District has increased fees. The Medical Center — I presume — has increased fees. (I’m willing to be corrected.)
We are all paying more for almost everything. Our governments are also paying more for everything.
I guess we voted to increase sales tax by 1% to fund water (I’m ignorant on this so help me out if I’m wrong.)
To my knowledge Pagosa has a fairly cheap lodging tax compared to other resort towns — I know these funds are tricky on how the money can be used but can we not increase the lodging tax for water infrastructure to provide relief for locals on usage and tap fees?
But I sometimes feel like the communication channels in Archuleta County consistently head down a black hole. The questions posed above, on social media, generated 48 comments. As a person who spends his time attending community meetings, and researching and reading government documents, I would judge that 15 of those comments contained misinformation, sometimes mixed with accurate information.
This is how we live — in spite of the most amazing communications technology ever invented, or perhaps because of the most amazing communications technology ever invented. We’re dealing with an informational black hole…which has also become an echo chamber, amplifying the voices of both liars and the misinformed.
Years ago, some of us imagined that the “democratization of voices” brought about by the World Wide Web would be a benefit to humankind.
Hasn’t exactly turned out that way, so far.