Photo: Pagosa Springs Middle School, 5th & 6th Grade Building, originally built in 1924 to serve grades K-12.
I mentioned yesterday, in Part One, that I’ve personally been debt-free for a number of years now, but that, as a citizen of the U.S. and Colorado, I’ve been assigned a rather massive amount of public debt by our elected government leaders.
In a few instances, I’ve been myself one of those elected leaders. As a volunteer member of the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) board of directors during the past four years, I’ve participated in approving close to $50 million in new debts that my fellow PAWSD customers and I — and our grandchildren — will have to repay over the next 20 to 30 years.
And because debt incurs interest payments, the PAWSD repayment costs from current debts might be closer to $90 million?
The $44 million Snowball Treatment Plant replaced an old, inefficient treatment facility that wasted about 50% of the water it treated, but was — in practical terms — still producing safe drinking water. The replacement plant had been in various stages of planning for at least 15 years, and by the time the design was finished and the construction contract was signed, the cost had escalated tremendously.
As so many costs have escalated over the past 20 years.
Ditto, the debt burden.
In 1952, the year I was born, the total debt held by all state and local governments in America totaled about $25 billion (according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.)
According to a study by Reason.org, our country’s state and local government debt totaled about $6.1 trillion in 2023. So, about 250 times what it was in 1952? Pretty much a steady upward curve… except between 1994 and 1997, when the debt burden decreased slightly for some reason.
Much of this state and local debt — maybe 35% — consists of unfunded employee pensions.
Have the voters in Archuleta County grown weary of ever-increasing public debt? We might get an answer to that question this November, if the Archuleta School District (ASD) decides to place a $122 million bond issue on the ballot.
Or perhaps more than $122 million?
Last month, the ASD Board of Education received a presentation from the consultants at New Bridge Strategy — Lori Weigel and Kathryn Hahne — summarizing a survey of 278 likely Archuleta County voters between June 25 and July 8. The survey questions aimed at getting a sense of how the community would vote on a ballot issue like the following:
SHALL ARCHULETA COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 50J DEBT BE INCREASED BY UP TO $76,000,000, WITH A REPAYMENT COST OF UP TO $121,964,500, FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING A HIGH-QUALITY LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FOR STUDENTS, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
• CONSTRUCTING AND EQUIPPING A NEW K-8 SCHOOL WHICH WILL PROVIDE A MORE SAFE, SECURE AND INVITING LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
SUCH DEBT TO BE USED TO PROVIDE LOCAL MATCHING MONEY REQUIRED FOR THE DISTRICT TO RECEIVE A “BEST” GRANT FROM THE STATE (THE GRANT IS NOT REQUIRED TO BE REPAID BUT IS CONTINGENT UPON THE DISTRICT’S ABILITY TO PROVIDE THE MATCHING AMOUNT); PROVIDED THAT NO BONDS WILL BE ISSUED UNLESS A “BEST” GRANT IS RECEIVED; AND PROVIDED FURTHER THAT REVENUE FROM IMPOSITION OF THE MILL LEVY MAY NOT EXCEED $6,100,250 ANNUALLY;
AND SUCH DEBT TO BE EVIDENCED BY THE ISSUANCE OF GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS WHICH BEAR INTEREST, MATURE, ARE SUBJECT TO REDEMPTION, WITH OR WITHOUT PREMIUM OF NOT MORE THAN 5%, AND BE ISSUED AT SUCH TIME, AT SUCH PRICE (AT, ABOVE OR BELOW PAR) AND IN SUCH MANNER AND CONTAINING SUCH TERMS, NOT INCONSISTENT WITH THIS BALLOT ISSUE, AS THE BOARD OF EDUCATION MAY DETERMINE, AND SHALL PROPERTY TAXES BE IMPOSED WITHOUT LIMIT AS TO RATE TO GENERATE AN AMOUNT SUFFICIENT IN EACH YEAR TO PAY THE PRINCIPAL OF, PREMIUM IF ANY, AND INTEREST ON SUCH DEBT OR ANY REFUNDING DEBT, OR TO CREATE A RESERVE FOR THE SAME?
When first presented with this ballot language, about 33% of the 278 respondents said they would definitely vote ‘No’ … and about 30% said they would definitely vote ‘Yes’. Others responded that they would ‘probably’ vote either ‘No’ or ‘Yes’.
Some were undecided.
To compare the survey size (278) to the community’s voting population, 9,489 Archuleta County voters cast ballots in 2024.
The survey was a bit more extensive, however, than simply asking how voters felt about the sample ballot language. The consultants were also looking for indications as to what arguments might sway voters in a ‘Yes’ direction.
The argument that seemed most likely to encourage a ‘Yes’ vote:
Archuleta School District will apply for a state grant, called a BEST grant, to help pay for the construction of a new K-8 school. This grant will reduce the burden on local taxpayers by maximizing state resources while minimizing the financial impact on local residents.
The most effective argument against the $122 million bonded debt were not mentioned in the slide deck, but New Bridge did summarize some common reasons given by the 44% of respondents who said they would likely or definitely vote ‘No’.
New Bridge did not indicate how often they heard each argument.
- Property taxes already too high
- Distrust the District to wisely spend money
- Existing debt burden
- Opposition to proposed school location
- No children/no personal benefit
- Existing buildings are adequate
- No cap on tax increase authority
- Declining enrollment
- Invest in teachers, not buildings
I mentioned, above, that the PAWSD Snowball Treatment Plant replacement has been in the planning stages for at least 15 years. That’s about the same length of time that ASD has been planning to build a new K-8 facility, and abandon the existing Elementary and Middle Schools.
When ASD put a similar K-8 bond issue before the voters in 2011, the voters rejected the proposal by a 3-to-1 margin.
Since then, Archuleta County voters have supported two tax increase measures for ASD — to fund increased teacher salaries, and to upgrade safety and security in the existing buildings.
Those tax increases, since 2019, have provided ASD with about $12 million in increased tax revenues.
Without creating any additional debt, as far as I can tell.
Read Part Three… tomorrow…