Cardboard is now selling for $25 a ton. “Prices for OCC [cardboard] today are so low that in many cases the material is not even covering the ever-rising cost of freight to the mill…”
EDITORIAL: Building Glass Castles in the Sand, Part One
“Comparing $111,000 to the cost of constructing a new landfill, we’ll be saving money in the long run, by buying space that we’re not filling up….”
EDITORIAL: Telling Tales About TABOR, Part Two
Ms. Hedges wants us to repeal TABOR, and she apparently also wants us to believe that TABOR is to blame for the condition of our state highways and county roads…
EDITORIAL: Wings Over Pagosa, Part Five
Phone calls to these mothers and grandmothers revealed that only four of the seven will still be operating as licensed daycare providers in 2020…
EDITORIAL: Wings Over Pagosa, Part Two
Even with a rent-free building, the sliding tuition scale at Seeds of Learning leaves the non-profit organization with an annual operating deficit of about $200,000…
EDITORIAL: Wings Over Pagosa, Part One
“We’re not going to be a daycare center; we’re going to be an educational center…”
EDITORIAL: Town, County Discuss Impacts from Vacation Rentals, Part Three
Is Archuleta County experiencing some serious economic problems? It’s pretty well recognized that we are…
EDITORIAL: Town, County Discuss Impacts from Vacation Rentals, Part Two
“There’s movement to classify short-term rental property as ‘commercial’ for property tax purposes. The [Colorado Assessors Association] is kind of pushing that….”
EDITORIAL: Town, County Discuss Impacts from Vacation Rentals, Part One
If Ms. DeMarco and her fellow elected officials really want to consider ‘capping’ the total number of STRs at 20 percent of the available homes… well, that bus may have already left the station…
DEVIL MOUNTAIN CHRONICLES: Evil Mistress
When I got out of the service, my mistress and I went back to the smoky nightclubs and perilous bars of Dallas…
EDITORIAL: The Wonders of Economic Development, Part Eight
When a government overextends itself — as both the Town and County governments have done, here in Archuleta County — the obvious ‘fix’ is to promote economic growth…
EDITORIAL: The Wonders of Economic Development, Part Seven
“One thing I want the public to know is, we don’t want to give incentives to duplicate an existing business — somebody who has already been paying their taxes, and is a known entity…”
EDITORIAL: An Uncomfortable Dispatch Center Meeting
“When we did this 10 years ago, it cost us $500,000 to open the center that we have right now,” he said. “So, we’re not talking about something that’s cheap…”
EDITORIAL: The Wonders of Economic Development, Part Six
An example of ‘rational government’? A government process, wherein leaders and ordinary citizens freely exchanged arguments and assertions — and where people truly listened to one another…
EDITORIAL: The Wonders of Economic Development, Part Four
Generally speaking, Archuleta County taxpayers begin to have questions and concerns when infrastructure proposals get up into the $5 million range… or higher. We witnessed that kind of citizen concern back in 2013…
OPINION: Billionaires and American Politics
Although big money has always played an important role in U.S. political campaigns, its influence has been growing over the past decade…
EDITORIAL: The Wonders of Economic Development, Part Three
Not traditional bankruptcy, of course… few cities and towns in the US are facing legal bankruptcy, because they are still growing their populations… and are currently seeing increased property values…
EDITORIAL: The Wonders of Economic Development, Part Two
In 2008, just as the Recession was slamming the local construction industry and sales tax collections were headed downward, the Pagosa Springs Town Council made a fascinating decision….
EDITORIAL: The Wonders of Economic Development, Part One
At the end of eight hours, Ms. Wilcox asked the Council members to choose their three top priorities from among the 55 possible goals posted around the room…