Photo: Healthy Archuleta Summer Interns present their ideas to the BOCC on August 11, 2026.
A group of five young people — Healthy Archuleta’s Summer Interns — delivered a well-prepared presentation to the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday, August 11, concerning ways that the BOCC could better support the community and especially, the younger generation.
The commissioners expressed their appreciation for the presentation, although I can’t say how seriously they took the ideas.
I spend much of my time listening to conversations among community leaders at public meetings, and occasionally having private conversations with some of those leaders. I’ve heard several interesting political ‘stories’ over the past week or so.
One thought-provoking conversation took place at that same August 11 BOCC work session, related to the amount of debt that local elected leaders plan to burden us with.
I’ll be discussing that conversation later, and sharing my personal perspective on the topic.
Another lively chat took place at a local coffee shop earlier this week, on a different but related topic — related to public debt — and will be summarized later in this editorial series.
The delivery of interesting information — which includes, for many of us, “the news” — has gone through numerous phases during human history.
Long ago, people got their “news and information” from travelers and minstrels passing through the village, or maybe from the local shaman as the result of an intentional “out of body” experience. Daily “news” could also arrive in the form of gossip, shared at the feed store, or during a quilting bee.
Whether you wanted to trust these sources of information was a personal decision. But “trust” is sometimes less important than whether the information is “entertaining”.
Yesterday, we shared a story written by Corey Hutchins about a ‘one-person’ news and information outlet called ‘The Blanket’, based in Lakewood, Colorado. The story caught my attention because… well… the Pagosa Daily Post is also essentially a ‘one-person’ news and information outlet in Colorado… and like the traveling minstrels of old, I’m curious about how the other guys are making the whole thing work.
One decision that I made back in 2004, when I began posting Daily Post articles: I would be willing to express personal opinions in my articles.
Unlike a typical newspaper, I was not going to pretend to be “objective”. Instead, I made a promise to myself to tell the story honestly, as I experienced it, and also to intentionally question the “accepted narrative” as shared by government leaders.
According to Mr. Hutchins’, journalist Mike Lasusa had “poked holes” in a report by the right-leaning Common Sense Institute. The 18-page CSI report suggested that wealthy individuals and profitable corporations will abandon Colorado if voters approve Ballot Measure 195 — the graduated income tax that will lower state income tax rates for most Coloradans — those making less than $1 million a year — and raise rates for the wealthiest folks.
The CSI report authors, Ross Kaminsky and Erik Gamm, then go on to project that the overall Colorado economy will suffer when wealthy individuals and corporations leave Colorado to avoid the graduated income tax.
If we want to be honest — and of course, we do want to be honest — neither ‘The Blanket’ nor CSI know how wealthy Coloradans will act if voters approve Initiative 195. Some might move away, but others might be perfectly fine contributing more of their wealth to support education and other government services here.
And if we want to be honest, we will admit that Colorado’s $450 billion economy is far too complex for anyone to make accurate predictions about, based on one single tax policy change.
Can we admit when we’re shooting in the dark?
Here in Archuleta County, we will have our own potential tax policy changes on the November ballot.
Pagosa Springs Medical Center will be asking to renew its ability to retain all the property taxes it collects, which lately have amounted to about $2.5 million annually, or on average, about $175 per year per capita. This is not exactly a change in amount, but would now make the allowance permanent.
At the Tuesday work session for the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners, it sounded like a proposed increase to the County Lodging Tax (separate from the Town Lodging Tax) would be allocated — if approved by the voters — mainly to road maintenance, with small percentages going to support childcare and emergency services. The increased tax would be collected from visitors when they purchase lodging in Archuleta County, outside the town limits, and might generate around $1 million a year in new revenues. The $500,000 that the County already collects would continue to be used to market the community as a tourist destination.
A final decision on that County ballot measure is expected next Tuesday. If it’s approved for the ballot, I suspect the measure will pass, since the tax is paid only by visitors. We might see an opposition campaign, however, from the vacation rental industry.
At the end of that same BOCC work session, a discussion took place between the three commissioners that had not been indicated on the meeting agenda.
That discussion cocerned, potentially, many millions of dollars of taxpayer debt.
I was one of only three members of the public in the meeting room when this discussion took place.
It’s fairly typical, when groups of people make decisions, for everyone in the group to agree. Typically, a group forms to achieve some type of mission, and when a decision aligns with that mission, of course everyone votes “Yes”.
During the discussion about the Lodging Tax increase on Tuesday, for example, all three County commissioners seemed to be on the same page.
That was not the case, however, during…
5. Other Items of Mutual Interest
…when Commissioner John Ranson posted some financial research on the room’s video display screens.
We’ll begin digging into these numbers tomorrow.
A curious thing happened moments before this research had appeared on the screen. I was handed an envelope by a gentleman named Scott Tonges, containing a couple of letters… one addressed to the BOCC, and one addressed to the Daily Post… on the very same topic:
A plan for a new County administration facility that could potentially save the taxpayers millions of dollars.
In fact, tens of millions.
Read Part Two… tomorrow…