The Impact of One Cent on County Services

La Plata County operates with revenues from a tax rate set more than 40 years ago. Despite the rising costs of services and supplies, the county commissioners say it’s time for an update and ask voters to consider how a 1 cent increase will keep county services at a level that the community values. You are watching the Local News Network brought to you by the payroll department in Sirius, Texas Barbecue. I’m Sadie Smith.

I think what we have to talk about as a community is what do we value? Do we value good government? Do we value each other? Do we value the elders in our community who need a healthy response?

The La Plata County Commissioners approved the last sales tax increase in 1982. 10 years later, Colorado voters approved the taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, also known as Tabor. The constitutional amendment requires voters to approve any tax increase proposed after 1992. Since then, LA Plata County voters have never approved a tax increase. The La Plata County Commissioners with the recommendation of a Citizens Advisory Committee voted last summer to add a sales tax increase of 1% to the November ballot. A 1% increase equals 1 cent for every dollar spent. The proposed sales tax increase is expected to generate $18 million in revenue in 2026. Unlike a property tax, the proposed sales tax increase will affect both locals and visitors.

What is happening is the federal government is cutting, cutting, cutting. The state is cutting, cutting, cutting. We’re actually cutting, cutting, cutting. And this 18 million will help. It will help serve people, particularly our most vulnerable people in our, our, our society, meaning our society here, elders who are at risk for abuse, children and families, veterans. Those are very, very important.

The Colorado legislature lowered the taxable value of property to offset escalating property values. As a result, the county lost $8.3 million of revenue in 2025 with an additional $13 million loss expected in 2026.

We have had to do a lot of cutting since the residential assessment rates have been brought down, and so we would like to restore services where we can, and then we know that in a growing county there, there will always be needs. So, but it will primarily be going to our general fund. It will go to Rodin Bridge. Public Health has taken a lot of cuts with HR one, which is known as the big beautiful Bill, and so we know there are cuts to that. The state of Colorado has just gone through two rounds of cuts, and these are in things that actually really impact people’s lives.

Porter Norton says, the revenue from the proposed tax increase will support road and bridge maintenance and improvements, capital development projects and maintenance on 18 county owned buildings. The county also runs several programs that are not mandated by law, but support a safe and healthy community.

I bought a cup of coffee this morning and it was $3, and so I’m thinking, okay, I would’ve paid three more cents and that would’ve gone to vulnerable citizens. It would’ve gone to wildfire response. That’s a whole nother topic. There’s, and there’s also a list of things that we don’t have to do that are not mandated, and yet we do them like wildfire mitigation grants. We don’t have to do the kind of weed abatement program that we do. We do not have to contribute to organizations in the community. For example, alcohol detoxification is one of ’em that we give a lot of money to because it helps with people being intoxicated in public. We don’t want that driving being downtown Durango, so we have to support these services in the community, and they are not mandated by law, and those things could be at risk.

La Plata County’s road budget has a $10 million deficit. County officials plan to use the proposed sales tax revenue to balance the deficit, meet road maintenance expectations, and continue to fund snowplowing for more than 1500 miles of road.

So roads connect us all. It’s how we get around to play, to work, to go see people, to get to the doctor, to get to in a medical emergency, to get to school, so we have to take care of them next year. If the ballot doesn’t pass, we will not be doing any new road projects at all. We will be only doing maintenance, and that will be at a different level of service than people are used to.

Porter Norton says that while the tax rate has not increased since the 1980s, the county service costs have, for example, the cost of a mill and overlay. A maintenance technique used to resurface Asphalt roads has quadrupled from a $150,000 to $650,000 a mile.

And so what I ask residents to think about as they’re thinking about whether they’re going to vote for this is do we take care of each other? Do we take care of veterans and children’s and seniors? Do we take care of each other in a wildfire and give county government, including our Emergency Operations center and sheriff, what they need? We, we can’t always right now solve what’s going on internationally or nationally. It feels pretty overwhelming, I think, to a lot of people, but we can work locally, and the value involved here is I don’t want Lap Plata County to just survive. I want it to thrive.

Items like groceries, prescriptions, health and hygiene products, and other essential goods determined by the Colorado Department of Revenue are exempt from the proposed sales tax. The proposed tax increase is listed on the November ballot as Measure one A. To view the draft budget and learn more about the 1 cent tax, visit the La Plata County website. For more information about this and other stories, visit Durango Local News. Thank you for watching this edition of The Local News Network. I’m Sadie Smith.