At a Nov. 14 meeting, the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) Board of Directors agreed to end the district’s affordable housing surcharge, which had been used to support fee waivers for affordable housing.
PAWSD board member Glenn Walsh opened the discussion, noting that the only reason he could see for a water district to extend fee waivers for affordable housing was for projects that would not happen without the waiver.
He noted that there would be no actual losses in revenue for the district with projects that would not move forward without fee waivers.
Walsh added that not having the waivers would also encourage board discussion about whether projects would move forward without waivers or not.
“I don’t really think the waivers are necessary for us to consider true affordable housing projects,” Walsh said, adding that such projects serve people at 80 percent of area median income (AMI) and below.
PAWSD board chairman Gene Tautges expressed agreement with Walsh’s concerns about the affordable housing surcharge being a barrier to evaluating affordable housing projects.
He added that, at the board’s last meeting it “pretty much decided” that the board would support “nothing” in 2026.
“If we don’t have any projects in the oven, we probably shouldn’t have surcharges,” Tautges said.
Walsh stated that he would potentially support voting for a waiver in 2026 for Habitat for Humanity of Archuleta County for its housing projects if it could not move forward without a waiver, although he noted that Tautges might not.
After briefly discussing the differences in fee waiver spending and surcharge collection between the water and wastewater funds, Walsh commented that he would be more supportive of projects with larger amounts of community funding beyond PAWSD, such as where the “whole community” is contributing $50,000 to $60,000 in discounts to a $325,000 home.
PAWSD board member Bill Hudson questioned if the board would need to hold a public hearing or post public notice to remove fees.
PAWSD Programs Manager Renee Lewis explained that the board would need to give 30 days public notice and vote to end the fees at a public meeting.
Walsh stated that the district should have an ordinance that it could read on the fee removals.
He added that PAWSD staff could also move forward with the budgeting process assuming that the surcharges would not be collected in 2026.
Hudson commented that he was “fine” with the surcharge ending.
PAWSD board member Bruce Jones commented that he is a proponent of ending the fees.
He explained that he feels not having the fees would allow the district to consider “individuals as individuals.”
“I think when we tell the community we’re taking something for a reason, we then have an obligation to provide that in some way, while as I think that maybe the current board’s focus isn’t necessarily not helping the community, but, at the same time, let’s not put ourselves in an obligatory state to have to do something,” Jones said.
PAWSD board member Alex Boehmer commented that he was strongly in favor of getting rid of the surcharge as he likes keeping rates low and the board rarely has an opportunity to cut something from its bills.
“Anything we can do to keep our bills as low as possible and provide good water and sewer, I’m for it, so I’d love to see those charges disappear,” he said.
Tautges commented that his wife and he benefited from a low-interest Colorado Housing and Finance Authority loan in the past, but that they would still be here without that loan and, at that point, there were no subsidies from any local government entity for affordable housing.
“To me, it all boils back down to, we’re a water and sanitation district, let’s get as good as we can at that and let the other people in the community … with whatever their resources are get better, get bigger, whatever it is,” Tautges said.
Walsh noted that the district is imposing high fees on small housing projects, meaning that there are issues that the district needs to address.
Tautges commented that this is a good point, but a different issue, in his opinion.
He concluded the discussion by noting he feels it is “fair to assume” that PAWSD staff had direction to move forward with the 2026 budgeting process assuming that the affordable housing surcharges will be terminated in 2026.
josh@pagosasun.com
>