Getting a parking or traffic ticket will be a bit more expensive to fight in court as Durango seeks to subsidize the Buzz Bus.
The City Council voted Tuesday evening to raise a municipal court fee $3 to $8 to help cover the service. The Buzz Bus operates between 10:30 p.m. and 2:30 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays as a ride for impaired drivers. The trip costs $8, which makes it a low-cost incentive to play it safe after patronizing a local bar or restaurant.
The city debated eliminating the service last year but found about $35,000 to keep it going after a public outcry. To shore up the transit budget, City Manager Ron LeBlanc had proposed the council add a trolley fee, cut the Buzz Bus and raise fares and parking fees.
Durango Mayor Dick White said Tuesday he had been surprised at the public reaction.
“It became apparent from comments from the community as well as from council that collectively these were unpopular initiatives,” White said. “But we had to confront the cost issues.”
Durango officials decided to use the projected revenue coming from the new parking meters to contribute to the city’s transit system this year.
The municipal court deals with minor law violations, including parking, traffic and underage drinking. The fee applies to cases that end in guilty or no-contest pleas, deferred sentences and judgments and guilty convictions.
In other business, Durango councilors approved adding $583,000 to the 2014 budget to install a waterline under the Animas River that would pump water to an existing raw-water line near East Eighth Avenue and Colorado Highway 3. The current cost at $779,500 is about half the original $1.6 million price tag. The council approved $196,000 in this year’s budget.
The pipe would allow more untreated water to flow when the river is low, but it would lie near a fault line – a rock fracture that could cause an earthquake.
The question councilors confronted in 2010 was whether to use a cheaper or more expensive line. Steve Salka, city utilities director, argued it was more cost-effective to put in the low-priced pipe and fix it if it breaks.
“We fix pipes all the time,” he said. “If it breaks and the pumps are off, even if they’re running, I’m just putting river water back into the river, and we can go back there and fix it and get it properly – instead of spending all the extra money on something that might happen.”
smueller@durangoherald.com
An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect cost to ride the Buzz Bus.
