La Plata County commissioners are likely to ask voters to reallocate 70% of the lodgers tax revenue away from tourism marketing and management, and instead redirect the money toward workforce housing and child care.
Commissioners gave a thumbs-up to proposed ballot language at a work session Friday, when they discussed a possible figure for the proposed reallocation for the first time. The BOCC is scheduled to consider formal action on the matter and hear public comment at an Aug. 27 business meeting.
Assuming the board votes to place the question on the ballot, voters could direct more than half the lodgers tax revenue toward efforts to mitigate the rising cost of living in La Plata County. Surveys of county residents have found broad support for a reallocation.
Currently, all of the revenue from the 2% tax imposed on overnight stays in the unincorporated county, about $1 million last year, is passed on to Visit Durango for tourism marketing and destination management services. The city of Durango collects a 5.25% lodgers tax, of which 55% is passed to Visit Durango.
La Plata County’s $1 million share of the Visit Durango budget funds about a third of the organization’s $3.2 million in annual expenses.
“I don’t think it guts the tourism budget,” Commissioner Marsha Porter-Norton said during Friday’s meeting, noting a “compelling need around housing.”
Ken Stone, chair of the Visit Durango’s board of directors, said housing and child care are necessary for the prosperity of the community. But, he has warned commissioners that cutting more than 50% of the county’s contribution to tourism marketing could cause a decline in lodgers tax revenue overall.
“You may end up with a lot less tax in the future than you have now,” he said, urging the board to find a balance.
In accordance with a law passed in 2022, the county may seek voter approval to use lodgers tax revenue to enhance housing or child care opportunities for workers in the community or to facilitate and enhance visitor experiences.
The proposed ballot language asks for approval to fund housing and child care but not to enhance the visitor experience, which county staff members say aligns with the feedback they have received so far and the board’s goals.
At a July 9 business meeting, the board heard public comment, some tearful, from community members who said there was a significant need for affordable, high-quality child care in the county. The Regional Housing Alliance of La Plata County, which focuses on the development and maintenance of attainable housing, told commissioners in a letter that the reallocation presents “a significant opportunity to secure a short-term, sustainable funding source for RHA operations.”
The county is not obligated to use Visit Durango for tourism marketing services, and officials have been careful to note as much in discussions. As city staff members have pondered bringing the organization’s work in-house in light of recent transparency concerns, the county could reconsider where best to spend the marketing portion of the tax revenue.
If the reallocation is approved, how exactly the county would spend the money remains undecided.
Draft ballot question
The La Plata County Board of County Commissioners indicated approval for the following ballot language, which they will officially consider on Aug. 27:
“Without raising taxes, shall La Plata County be authorized to expand the allowable uses of its existing lodger’s tax to support our local workforce by providing child care programs and affordable housing opportunities for the tourism-related workforce, including seasonal workers, and other workers in La Plata County, with seventy percent (70%) of the existing lodger’s tax revenue being used for operating and capital expenditures to acquire, construct, maintain, enhance, renovate, relocate, improve, promote, support, finance and fund housing and child care for workers in La Plata County, and for all other purposes permitted by law, and the remaining thirty percent (30%) of revenue from the existing lodger’s tax being used for advertising and marketing local tourism, with expenditures spent in compliance with state budget laws and other applicable laws governing local governments?”
Commissioners have tossed around the idea of bringing in an outside consultant to review proposals, as they did when the county needed to distribute $3.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding set aside to fund social impact projects.
The amount of funding generated is also a complicating factor. Last year’s lodgers tax revenue would have generated $700,000 for these new causes, a small sum when facing a challenge such as an affordable housing crisis.
The county could squirrel away annual revenues for several years before spending a larger sum.
County officials may provide factual information that pertains to a ballot question, but are barred by state law from advocating in favor of a position on the question. The advocacy work typically falls to privately organized campaigns.
Stone said Visit Durango is not likely to launch any such campaign against the reallocation.
“It’s kind of hard to vote against child care and housing, because we all want that,” he said.
The public may give input on the drafted ballot language at the BOCC business meeting at 10 a.m. Aug. 27 at the county Administration Building, 1101 East Second Ave., in Durango.
rschafir@durangoherald.com
A previous version of this story incorrectly referenced the meeting at which commissioners first heard public comment on the proposed reallocation. The error was made in editing.
