Archuleta County is experiencing an economic and social crisis. Teachers, nurses, police officers, waitresses, construction workers and public service employees of all types are unable to find anywhere to live without spending 50% of the monthly income — or more — on rent.
Three years ago, the Town of Pagosa Springs adopted a 52-page plan, written by one of the foremost housing consultants in Colorado, that detailed the steps our community needs to take, if we seriously want to address the housing crisis.
The Town Council has implemented several of the plan’s important recommendations, but one important piece is still missing. The key missing piece is a long-term funding stream, fully dedicated to help solve the workforce housing shortage.
While we waited for this necessary funding stream to be implemented, available residential housing has been purchased by wealthy out-of-town investors, and converted into Short-Term Rentals — STRs.
At the same time, the typical monthly rental rates paid by working families have increased significantly over the past ten years. Pagosa has become one of the most “family unfriendly” communities in Colorado, with over 400% more STRs per capita than Durango.
The Town voters will have a chance, on the April 5 ballot, to create a long-term funding stream dedicated solely to workforce housing. If Ballot Question A is approved by the town voters. the Town Council will be required to use the money to address our community’s most serious problem. The Town Council already has a plan, but they don’t have the dedicated funding. The voters can provide the funding.
Ballot Question A establishes a monthly $150-per-bedroom fee for STRs within the town limits that are not owner-occupied. Owner-occupied STRs will not pay any additional fees.
A similar, but even higher, STR fee was recommended by the Town Planning Commission last July, but the Town Council declined to establish the recommended fee. Ballot Question A creates a sliding scale, ensuring that smaller STRs pay a smaller fee than what was recommended by the Planning Commission.
The fee will help ‘level the playing field’ between STRs — which pay a residential property tax rate of 7.15% — and all other commercial businesses in Archuleta County that contribute property tax at the normal 29% commercial rate. The team that wrote Ballot Question A calculated the new fees to be approximately equal to the amount of property taxes avoided by STRs due to a Colorado tax loophole.
As with any legislation, the amendment created by Ballot Question A might end up being a permanent change, but the voters can always choose to remove the fee in the future, if economic conditions change and the dedicated funding is no longer needed.
Bob Serra
Chromo, CO