My email exchange with a thoughtful local resident bounced back a forth, as we discussed the idea that some — or all — of the subdivisions belonging to the Pagosa Lakes Property Owners Association (PLPOA) could form “metro districts” and take better care of their neighborhood roads than Archuleta County is currently doing.
The property owners in several subdivisions have put these taxing districts in place, and they pay an additional property tax mill levy to fund their road maintenance work.
They also pay the normal 18 mills in property tax to Archuleta County, but very little of that 18 mills actually gets used for County road projects. In fact, in 2021, none of the 18 mills collected by the County was allocated to Road & Bridge (R&B).
Zero. Zip. Nada.
Two years earlier, the County had been dedicating 25% of its property tax revenues to Road and Bridge.
The same allocation of property taxes to Road & Bridge was evident in the 2022 budget. Zero. Zip. Nada.
Meanwhile, here are the property tax mill levy rates paid by various subdivisions in 2022 to fund their metro districts:
Alpha Rock Ridge: 10 mills
Aspen Springs: 14.7 mills
Colorado Timber Ridge: 15 mills
Loma Linda: 10 mills
Piedra Park: 7.4 mills
San Juan River Village: 8.9 mills
These subdivisions have, by my estimation, some of the best-maintained roads in our community.
PLPOA subdivisions, not so much.
There’s a commonly held assumption, that the government located closest to The People is generally the most responsive. But as my friend pointed out in our email exchange, corruption can happen in any organization or government. This is certainly true.
Typically, metro districts in Colorado are formed specifically to handle road maintenance, but they can also have control of water and sewer services, and neighborhood parks. In Aspen Springs, for example, the metro district built a drinking water plant and a community park.
Does it follow that a metro district serving one or more PLPOA subdivisions is as likely to be as ineffective with road and bridge funding as our County government seems to have been?
My friend suggested that there is an efficiency that comes with ‘scale’. The larger the government or organization, the more efficiently it can operate. A bunch of small metro district, each with its own machinery and staff and buildings and overhead costs, would surely be less efficient than a community-wide Road & Bridge Department. Right?
That might seem to be the case, if we weere living in the realm of ideas. If we’re looking at reality, however, it appears that small, neighborhood metro districts like the ones here in Archuleta County, are consistently doing a better job of road maintenance than our County government.
The question naturally comes up:
Can a subdivision that is part of a large property owners association, like PLPOA, form a metro district?
Would the entire association need to vote in favor of one big metro district? That would mean 27 separate and somewhat unique subdivisions, spread out over 21 square miles, all coming to an agreement. But I believe any individual subdivision could make its own decision, in this regard. Or any group of PLPOA subdivisions could do it cooperatively.
Some of the subdivisions, in the list I shared above, have both a homeowners association and a metro district. For example:
Loma Linda Homeowners Association.
According to the comments made by County Attorney Todd Weaver at the May 6 joint meeting between the PLPOA and the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners, a property owners association (or homeowners association) is a different type of organization from a metro district. A metro district is a taxing district created by a majority vote of the property owners within the new district boundaries. A property owners association, meanwhile, does not collect taxes; it collects ‘assessments’.
Another difference: a property owners association is typically created by the developer of the subdivision, partly to enforce covenants and restrictions attached to the land. When you buy your house or vacant parcel located within an association, you agree to abide by the covenants and restrictions that govern your subdivision. It’s my understanding that subdivision covenants and restrictions are nearly impossible to change, especially when 50% or more of the properties are owned by non-residents… the situation in certain Pagosa Lakes neighborhoods.
A metro district has a great deal more flexibility in terms of regulations and policies, but must get voter approval to increase its mill levy.
I do believe the assessment charged by a homeowners association can be increased by a simple vote of the Board of Directors.
The thoughtful emails from a concerned citizen noted two key beliefs, about why our County-maintained roads are relatively poor, when compared with the roads maintained by local metro districts. One belief, held by some in County leadership, is that Archuleta County voters are unreasonably reluctant to provide the County with sufficient tax revenues.
The other belief, held by many voters — a majority of voters, in fact — is that the County government cannot be trusted to spend money wisely, and is thus unworthy of increased taxes. This has been my general experience of the Archuleta County government over the past 30 years. And this attitude was reflected in the survey of voters conducted by Magellan Strategies in 2022.
Magellan Strategies asked likely voters if they agreed or disagreed with this statement:
“Archuleta County is fiscally responsible and spends taxpayer money wisely.”
Only 4% of the respondents “Strongly Agreed” with the statement, Only 27% even “Somewhat” agreed.
63% disagreed, with 76% of younger voters distrustful of the County government.
As Town Council member Brooks Lindner stated shortly after the survey results were released:
“This is a huge trust issue, and trust is the biggest thing, whenever you have a ballot issue…”
If our community subdivisions are able to maintain neighborhood roads using tax-supported metro district, and if these metro districts are more trusted than our County government…?
…What is Pagosa Lakes waiting for?
…Christmas?