According to city officials, revenues taken in each year at the Durango Recreation Center come just shy of the actual cost of maintaining the facility. With a 90 percent cost recovery, there’s an extra 10 percent that currently is covered by the half-cent sales and use tax approved by voters in 1999./Photo by Steve Eginoire

Coming back around

City seeks input on another 20-year term for rec center, river trail tax

by Tracy Chamberlin

It’s been almost 20 years since voters said “Yes!” But back in the spring of 1999, Durango residents did just that, approving a half-cent sales and use tax to pay for construction of the Recreation Center and development of the Animas River Trail.

Today, the river trail is considered a 7-mile boon for the city; and, when the 20-year tax expires in 2019, the Rec Center’s $14 million debt will be paid off.

“Our community would be a very different place without the Rec Center and Animas River Trail,” said City Councilor Christina Rinderle, “both of which are incredible assets enjoyed by all ages and abilities, locals and tourists.”

However, the future development and upkeep of these facilities, as well as other designs under the city’s Parks, Open Space, Trails and Recreation Master Plan – like the construction of river access points and Lake Nighthorse – is something that might not be possible unless voters choose to say “Yes!” again.

According to city officials, revenues taken in each year at the Rec Center come just shy of the actual cost of maintaining the facility. With a 90 percent cost recovery, there’s an extra 10 percent that currently is covered by the sales and use tax passed in 1999.

On top of that are improvements to the facility and other projects likely to crop up as the building ages.

Sandy Burke, chair of the City’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, said prices at the Rec Center would probably go up if the 1999 tax is terminated, something neither she nor the city wants to see happen.

Then there is the City’s long list of projects in the works. Those needed to change Lake Nighthorse from a gated, silent reservoir into a thriving recreation hub; those that would convert the Animas River Corridor Management Plan into user-friendly river put-ins and take-outs; those that would grow the Community Forest Management Plan into a thriving thicket; and a slew of others that fall under the parks and recreation purview.

“Through an extension of this sales tax, we cannot only maintain what we have, but also expand the connectivity throughout the community from cross-town trails, to the creation and enhancement of neighborhood parks,” Rinderle explained. “The list of the desires from Durango’s citizens is a long one.”

All of these projects are estimated to cost the city $219 million. However, if voters approve reauthorization of the 1999 tax, it will bring in an additional $107 million over another 20-year term.

Combined with the almost $18 million expected from the remaining years of the current tax, 2015-19, and the monies taken in from the 2005 quarter-cent sales and use tax used for the acquisition and care of open space, parks and trails, city officials said they could keep the upgrades coming.

Without revenues from the 1999 tax, they’ll have no choice but to turn to the General Fund to make up the gap.

“The General Fund is certainly stressed,” Burke explained. Certain things come first like police and safety, leaving parks and recreation out in the cold.

She added that not everyone realizes a majority of the city’s recreation is financed by sales taxes. About one-third comes from the county, one-third from the city and one-third from visitors to the area, which she called a really good deal for locals.

In order to face these potential shortfalls before the tax sunsets, city staff are starting the reauthorization process with a community meeting at 5 p.m. Wed., April 30, at the Rec Center.

Parks and Recreation Director Cathy Metz said the meeting is a chance to bring everyone up to speed on the issue, gather comments from residents and answer initial questions. She wants to know what residents want the City to consider, what may have changed for them since the original passage in 1999, and whether or not they support the direction the City is going.

“We want to be held accountable,” she added.

Metz also said she is willing to speak to any local groups or organizations looking to learn more about the tax, what it would pay for and how that affects the community.

After all, the reauthorization would be different than the original intent, which was limited to the Rec Center and Animas River Trail. It would also be broader than the quarter-cent 2005 tax, dedicated to the preservation and stewardship of open space, and the development and maintenance of parks and trails.

The potential use of these reauthorized revenues ranges from building sidewalks and bike lanes under the Multi-Modal Master Plan to planting trees as part of the Community Forest Management Plan. The ballot language would need to be crafted so it can be both easily understood as well as cover this wide range of projects.

With outreach under way and the official ballot measure likely to come out this fall, the City’s hope is to bring the reauthorization to voters in April 2015.

Since the tax doesn’t expire until 2019, this early approach gives them time to gauge community sentiment, respond to comments and possibly revisit the issue.

Metz explained that if the reauthorization fails, City officials would certainly want to learn why, and potentially amend the ballot language and bring the measure back to voters.

Burke, who has been on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board for more than a decade, explained that she supported the original tax.

“I voted for it,” she said, “… thought it was a good thing to do and still is.”

For more information on the reauthorization, including a breakdown of the 1999 tax, visit the city website at www.durangogov.org, check out the Parks and Recreation Department page and click on “Future Parks and Recreation Expenditures.”