Log In


Reset Password
Opinion Editorial Cartoons Op-Ed Editorials Letters to the Editor

Vote no on 1A

This time around, ballot question needs further discussion and greater detail

Along with choosing two city councilors, on the ballots that were mailed out this week Durango voters are being asked to approve Question 1A. That measure would extend the half-cent sales passed by the voters in 1999 and, slated to “sunset” in 2019 for another 20 years until 2039.

It is a well-intended proposal that should nonetheless be defeated. The tax passed in 1999 does not expire until the end of 2019, and during that time, the ’99 money still will be collected and spent as it has been for 15 years. No programs will be halted.

That gives backers, city officials and critics alike time to dig into the details and to explain in depth exactly how and why the money will be spent and to what end. The 1999 vote was to fund the construction and operation of the Durango Community Recreation Center and the Animas River Trail. There have been ancillary developments, of course, but by and large, the city has spent the ’99 money exactly as the voters expected.

The problem is the rec center was completed some time ago as was the main part of the river trail. In a paper on reauthorization of the 1999 tax, the city has identified any number of worthy projects it would like to undertake, but none have the automatic appeal of the rec center or the river trail.

Not that they are not worthwhile, but many of the proposed uses for the Question 1-A money would be for maintenance and upkeep. Others would be upgrades, such as the Riverview School to Holly Avenue trail, which has been there for decades but as little more than a path. Is that worth more than $1 million?

Some others clearly are worth the cost. The city’s study lists $3 million for a Camino underpass. That would be a major boon for the river trail, downtown Durango and the whole riverfront area, including the Powerhouse Science Center.

Other items might seem to be overreach. The proposed hard surface trails package includes more than $19 million for trails along U.S. Highway 160 and another $3.3 million to connect Santa Rita to Goeglein Trail. Might some of this be more than needed, even more than 20 years?

Then again, there is $5.6 million budgeted for Lake Nighthorse campgrounds, boat slips, picnic areas and the like. Opening the lake is overdue and would be welcome. At the same time, that raises several questions, not the least of which is: Why does the city have to build all that? What is perhaps more important, those are all capital construction projects. Where will the money for operations come from? By building the facilities at Lake Nighthorse, will the city be assuming those, too?

Oh, and more than $41 million for “multi-modal connectivity projects” – bike lanes and sidewalks?

The 1999 vote was simple: For a half-cent, Durango got a rec center and to finish the river trail. This measure has a lot more to it and a lot more to think about.

As things stand, however, there is time for backers to explain this plan more thoroughly and for voters to dig deeper and decide what they want. Best of all, there is time for city officials to hear out their constituents, make whatever needed changes and come back next year.



Reader Comments