March, 2020
As the month began, President Donald Trump apparently wanted to put the American people at ease, and comfort us with the knowledge that COVID-19 was not terribly dangerous, and was fully under control. He had reassured us with these words:
“Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.”
Some were persuaded, some were not. But things still looked relatively bright in Archuleta County in March. The virus danger seemed higher in crowded cities like New York, and non-existent in rural communities. (Pagosa Springs Medical Center did not announce its first “presumptive case” until March 26.)
Then came a “declaration of emergency” from Colorado Governor Jared Polis on March 10, followed by a public health order closing all Colorado ski areas on March 14, and then a closure of all bars and restaurants on March 16. Two days later, he ordered all schools closed.
Suddenly, the pandemic seemed very real, even in an isolated community like Pagosa Springs that had yet to report a single infection.
For me, personally, the first part of March had been a time of political activity. Along with two fellow town residents — Greg Giehl and Glenn Walsh — I’d spent the month of February and the beginning of March going door-to-door, within the Town boundaries, circulating a petition aimed at giving the taxpayers more control over their local government.
The reception, even during an approaching global pandemic, had been overwhelmingly welcoming. Numerous people — in many cases, fellow town residents whom we’d never met before — invited us into their homes to listen to a short presentation, and sign our petition. Many more came out on their porches to discuss the issue face-to-face.
COVID still seemed relatively insignificant to people’s lives. What I experienced while going door-to-door in Pagosa during a worldwide health crisis was a surprisingly open and friendly community, and a overwhelming lack of fear of strangers. Which made sense, considering that no cases of COVID had yet been reported in Archuleta County.
The petition was proposing a change in the Town’s Home Rule charter, whereby municipal Tax Increment Financing (TIF) schemes would need to seek voter approval, whenever the total tax subsidy was estimated to be more than $1 million.
During the summer of 2019, a couple of businessmen — Springs Resort partner David Dronet, and local developer Jack Searle — had approached the Town Council with a request for up to $79.6 million in refunded taxes over a 25-year period, through a TIF scheme, to help fund a planned subdivision development on 27 acres of vacant land south and west of the Springs Resort. You can read about that proposal here.
After considering and discussing the Springs Resort proposal for a couple of months, the Town Council held a public meeting in November and — following a presentation by Town Planner James Dickhoff explaining why 27 vacant riverfront acres qualified as “dangerously blighted” — the Council voted 4-3 to create a new layer of government: an Urban Renewal Authority. This new URA would theoretically be able to provide millions of dollars in long-term TIF incentives to projects like the one proposed by Mr. Dronet and Mr. Searle.
Several people had voiced their opposition to the Urban Renewal Authority at the November Town Council meeting, including representatives from the several local government entities who would see their tax collections diminished by future “URA projects”. The Town Council had the option, at the November meeting, to allow extensive representation on the URA commission by those same local tax-funded entities, but instead created a commission totally dominated by the Town Council itself.
TIF schemes have been used all over America to redirect municipal taxes into the pockets of wealthy developers, and in most communities, the taxpayers have no direct influence over municipal decisions to subsidize developers.
As noted, this URA approval business had taken place in November 2019, before anyone had heard of COVID-19… and before global stock markets dropped, and dropped, and dropped, with markets worldwide losing $9 trillion in value in a matter of nine days.
Before General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler temporarily closed all their US factories “due to the coronavirus.” Before international borders were closed, and every spare roll of toilet paper disappeared into hoarders’ closets.
In March, Greg, Glenn and I had no idea whether Mr. Dronet and Mr. Searle would move ahead with a proposed $180 million tourist resort expansion during 2020, considering the general direction the US economy seemed to be headed at the moment. But we went ahead with our Home Rule petition anyway, since it was not specific to any particular development proposal.
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) created by the Town Council in 2019 is now a permanent fixture, here in Archuleta County. Unlike viral pandemics, URAs are designed to last forever. Our children and grandchildren will be dealing with “economic development” proposals long after the COVID-19 scare has passed.
During our petition drive, we’d been handing out information cards that suggest two possible reasons for these types of municipal TIF schemes.
“Economic Development?”
“Corporate Welfare?”
We collected enough supporting signatures to compel the Town to hold a special Town election, which was then scheduled for July, 2020. (For Town voters only. Sorry, county residents; you guys are not yet Home Rule. Maybe someday.)
Greg, Glenn and I were volunteers in this particular instance of taxpayer activism. No one was paying us to circulate a petition. None of us expected to profit from a successful election. We were just three downtown residents interested in taxpayer fairness.
This is not always the case, when people attempt to influence local governments. The 2019 petition asking the Town Council to create an Urban Renewal Authority, for example, had been circulated by Jack Searle — one of the businessmen hoping to benefit to the tune of $79.6 million in taxpayer subsidies, based on a claim that his 27 acres of vacant property was “dangerous blight”.
As 2020 comes to a close, Mr. Searle and Mr. Dronet have not yet submitted a formal application to the URA commission. (As far as I know.)
But then, a lot of things that were previously planned didn’t happen during 2020.