Dear Editor:
I write today about nonpartisan local issues with a few partisan candidate notes at the end. The theme is the same, however: vote to take care of home.
Look for three local issues on your ballot.
Issue 7B extends a TABOR waiver Pagosa Springs Medical Center (PSMC) has had for 20 years. Vote YES to keep the waiver in place, protecting PSMC’s ability to accept government grants. Past grants – totaling about $6.4 million – have funded the outpatient clinic, wellness facility, and medical equipment. Losing the TABOR waiver could jeopardize future grant funding for things like new ambulances.
Issue 5A will provide funds to replace two aging school buildings with one new K-8 school. The cost to maintain and repair the existing buildings saps funds otherwise used to pay operating expenses – teachers, equipment, and supplies. The old buildings are no longer fit for educating our kids. (Yes, our County has school-aged kids – not just old people and tourists.)
A YES vote on 5A is a commitment to funding that would match a competitive state grant (the “BEST” grant). Showing local support will strengthen the Archuleta School District’s BEST application, and no new taxes will take effect unless the District wins a BEST grant.
The School District and a public advisory committee spent more than a year talking to the community and studying options. Renovating existing buildings is not the best approach. It would be a huge expense that doesn’t solve fundamental problems – like classrooms with no windows and no external walls to add them.
Years ago, Town leaders opted for the “cheaper fix” of pumping wastewater uphill to a PAWSD treatment plant. That has turned out to be a costly error. We shouldn’t take the bait of a “cheaper fix” again.
Issue 1A will increase the County lodging tax. Additional tax revenue will be used for roads (80%), emergency services (10%), and childcare (10%).
We also need representatives in Denver and Washington who will help us take care of home. Katie Stewart is our State Representative (HD59), a Democrat who has delivered. One example. When the rules for state affordable housing grants didn’t work for Archuleta County, she got a bill passed to change them.
Barb Clementi is a retired teacher who shows up and takes seriously the duties of the State Board of Education.
Dwayne Romero is an Army veteran and businessperson running for Congress against Jeff Hurd. Romero isn’t beholden to an administration that favors billionaires over healthcare for working people, and he won’t support tactics like tariffs and unchecked wars that drive up the cost of everything.
Hurd had a chance, and he caved. He’s trying now to show his independence, but Hurd voted as Republican leaders demanded to cut food benefits and Medicaid (which helps fund rural hospitals) so rich Americans can have more tax breaks, to restrict voting, and to let the Iran war continue unchecked.
Romero will stand up and be an unwavering voice for rural Colorado.
Candace Jones
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