Durango, CO: **Ah yes, it’s that time of year again: fall colors, crisp mornings, pumpkin spice everything… and budget season. City Council recently met with city staff for our annual budget retreat on Oct. 14 to discuss the 2027 budget. There, we reviewed both opportunities and challenges in the forthcoming year, and while there is excitement around getting some much-needed infrastructure projects started, there are also headwinds that need to be addressed over the next year.
Councilors and staff had a robust conversation around different capital projects and funding related to our Strategic Plan adopted by City Council in May of 2024. Specifically, there were projects centered around enhancing and replacing our aging infrastructure, multimodal projects to slow down neighborhood traffic and make our town more bikeable and pedestrian-friendly, and discussions around budgeting and funding for affordable and workforce housing.
Among our considerations in the next few months and pushing into next year include water and sewer rates, trash and recycling rates, Downtown’s Next Step, 2019 Sales Tax, and 2015 Sales Tax, among other initiatives. Along with those considerations, we have a contract agreement with Durango Fire Protection District expiring in 2028. We have a couple of options available, including entering into the district via public vote to possibly increase property taxes by 4.1 mills. Council at the Oct. 20 regular meeting will deliberate on options ranging from a full, all-in inclusion into the district, a tiered inclusion with year-over-year increases until we hit the 4.1 mills over three years, or enter into a yearly contract for services with the fire district. Anecdotally, by entering into the district, city residents would also finally have a seat on the fire district board of directors.
For a little historical context, the fire district has provided fire and emergency medical services to the city since 2014 under an intergovernmental agreement, since the city is not technically part of the fire district. The city collects 8.537 mills of property taxes to pay for these services and passes that money on to the district. If we were to enter the district, the property taxes would no longer be a pass-through. Instead, the district would directly receive those funds from taxpayers. This would free up roughly $3 million in the general fund that could be used towards Strategic Plan goals, which include workforce housing initiatives within Innovative Housing and Economic Development, and funding our Transportation Department as part of our Reliable Infrastructure and Connected Community goal.
Durango Transit faces significant headwinds into 2027, and there is a need for a sustainable funding mechanism for our city-wide transportation network. As it stands, revenues outstrip expenditures. Transportation Director Sarah Hill has done an incredible job finding alternative sources of funding for both operations and capital projects, including various state and federal grants. Those grants, along with the sale of the parcel of land in the train parking lot, have been a lifeline in pushing out the depletion of transportation funds, but there is still a fiscal cliff in the first part of 2028 if a sustainable funding mechanism is not found. As a community, we will need to decide to fund our Transportation Department long term or drastically decrease services and routes to operate within the limited budget.
We understand that affordability is a big concern for many residents. Freeing up money in the general fund by entering into the Durango Fire Protection District would allow a redirection of those funds to address transportation and housing in Durango. There is an opportunity to really leverage this limited pool of money to positively impact members of our community. We look forward to conversations around enhancing the quality of life for residents and how we can meet, if not exceed, our Strategic Plan goals.
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Media Contact**Tom SluisPublic Information Officer Phone: (970) 375-5090Email: Tom Sluis