La Plata County likely proposes reallocating 70% of lodging tax to housing and child care – The Durango Herald
Ballot question would be put to voters in November
La Plata County will likely ask voters to approve redistributing 70% of lodging tax revenue, which brought in about $1 million last year. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald file)
La Plata County commissioners will likely ask voters to redirect 70% of lodging tax revenue from tourism marketing and management to workforce housing and child care instead.
Commissioners approved the proposed ballot text at a work session Friday when they first discussed a potential amount for the proposed redistricting. The BOCC is scheduled to consider formal action on the matter and hear public comments at a business meeting on Aug. 27.
Assuming the committee votes to put the question on the ballot, voters could use more than half of the lodging tax revenue to fund measures to curb the rising cost of living in La Plata County. Polls of county residents have found broad support for redistricting.
Currently, all revenue from the 2% lodging tax in the unincorporated county, about $1 million last year, is directed to Visit Durango, which provides tourism marketing and destination management services. The City of Durango collects a 5.25% lodging tax, of which 55% goes to Visit Durango.
La Plata County’s share of Visit Durango’s $1 million budget covers about a third of the organization’s $3.2 million in annual expenses.
“I don’t think it puts a strain on the tourism budget,” Commissioner Marsha Porter-Norton said during Friday’s meeting, citing a “compelling need for housing.”
Ken Stone, chairman of the Visit Durango board of directors, said housing and child care are necessary for the community’s prosperity, but he warned commissioners that cutting the county’s contribution to tourism promotion by more than 50% could lead to a decline in lodging tax revenue overall.
“You may have to pay much less taxes in the future than you do now,” he said, urging the board to find a balance.
Under a law passed in 2022, the county can ask voters to approve using lodging tax revenue to improve housing or child care options for workers in the community or to facilitate and enhance the visitor experience.
The proposed ballot text asks to approve funding for housing and child care, but not for improving the visitor experience. County staff say that’s consistent with the feedback they’ve received so far and the board’s goals.
At a July 9 business meeting, the board listened to public comments, some tearful, from community members who said there is a significant need for affordable, quality child care in the county. The Regional Housing Alliance of La Plata County, which focuses on developing and maintaining affordable housing, told commissioners in a letter that the redistricting “represents a significant opportunity to secure a short-term, sustainable source of funding for the RHA’s operations.”
The county is not required to use Visit Durango for tourism marketing services, and officials have been explicit about that in discussions. As city staff have considered taking the organization’s work in-house in light of recent transparency concerns, the county may reconsider how best to spend the marketing portion of tax revenue.
If the redistribution is approved, it remains unclear how exactly the district will spend the money.
The La Plata County Board of Commissioners has signaled its approval of the following slogan and will formally consider it on August 27:
“Should La Plata County be authorized, without a tax increase, to expand the permissible uses of the existing lodging tax to support our local workforce by providing child care programs and affordable housing options for the tourism-related workforce, including seasonal and other workers in La Plata County, with seventy percent (70%) of the existing lodging tax revenues to be used for operating and capital expenditures to acquire, construct, maintain, expand, renovate, relocate, improve, promote, support, fund and finance housing and child care for workers in La Plata County and for any other purposes permitted by law, and the remaining thirty percent (30%) of the existing lodging tax revenues to be used for local tourism promotion and marketing, with expenditures to be made in accordance with state budget laws and other applicable laws governing local governments?”
Commissioners have considered bringing in an outside consultant to review the proposals, as they did when the county needed to distribute $3.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds earmarked for financing social impact projects.
The amount of money generated is also a complicating factor. Last year’s lodging tax revenue would have raised $700,000 for these new purposes, a small sum given a challenge such as the affordable housing crisis.
The county could set aside annual revenues for several years before spending a larger amount.
County officials may provide factual information on a ballot question, but under state law they may not advocate for a position on the issue. Lobbying is usually the responsibility of privately organized campaigns.
Stone said Visit Durango is unlikely to launch such a campaign against the rezoning.
“It’s pretty difficult to vote against child care and housing because we all want that,” he said.
The public may provide comments on the ballot bill at the BOCC’s business meeting at 10 a.m. on August 27 at the county administration building, 1101 East Second Ave., in Durango.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to the meeting where commissioners first heard public comments on the proposed redistricting. The error was made during editing.
