This November, voters in the Town of Pagosa Springs will decide if they want to raise the sales tax within town limits to fund critical sewer repairs and a wastewater treatment plant.
On Aug. 19, the Pagosa Springs Town Council approved the second reading of an ordinance calling for the coordinated election and setting the language appearing on the ballot.
An agenda document on the matter states that the finalized ballot language would need to be given to the county clerk by Sept. 4.
The Pagosa Springs Sanitation General Improvement District (PSSGID) currently serves 1,500 households and maintains five pump and lift stations, which move about 325,000 gallons of sewage per day through 17.42 miles of sewer pipes, according to the town’s website.
Wastewater is pumped 7 miles uphill to the Vista wastewater treatment plant, owned and operated by the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD), where it is treated by PAWSD.
The town’s Public Works Department, in conjunction with an assessment by Roaring Fork engineering, has concluded that the overall system is rated as “poor” to “fair,” with the challenges including an aging pipe system (50 years of age on average) with one-third of the total system rated as needing “critical repairs or failing.”
Most of the challenges stem from the 500-foot elevation gain the sewage must travel before it arrives for treatment at PAWSD’s Vista plant, the website indicates.
The town has estimated that it will cost between $80 million and $100 million to make the system healthy and efficient, with $15 million needed “immediately” to repair the aging pipes just to keep the current system operational.
After considering other options to fund the needed repairs and upgrades, such as raising rates on wastewater customers or raising property taxes, both town staff and the council determined that the sales tax option was “the most efficient” way to obtain the funding needed.
Town Manager David Harris has stated that a 1 percent sales tax increase within the town would generate an estimated $3.6 million in the first year and take an estimated 25 years to generate all the funds necessary to complete the project, if the town decides to build its own treatment plant.
A town-owned treatment plant downtown would cost in the neighborhood of $40 million to $60 million, Harris stated at a previous meeting, adding that costs “for infrastructure have gone through the roof, not just for our community, but nationwide.”
The sales tax option was the most viable option because it would be generated by both residents and visitors alike “and is more equitable for our residents,” Harris said.
It would create a dedicated fund that can only be used for sewer infrastructure maintenance, he added.
However, the sales tax increase would make retail and grocery purchases in town more expensive, Harris indicated, adding that, for example, “a family of four, would see the price of groceries go up roughly about $15 per month.”
Town Attorney Bob Cole stated at the previous meeting that the sales tax ordinance would repeal the existing tax to be replaced with a new sales tax, if the voters approve it on Nov. 4, adding that the ballot language restricts the revenues to be collected for the sole purpose of sewer infrastructure and maintenance.
“The ballot question proposes that the sales tax would begin Jan. 1 of 2026 … and it also proposes that the tax would remain in perpetuity until the town council or town voters initiated a provision to appeal it,” Cole explained.
Harris stated at the most recent meeting that “the ballot language has been reviewed by two attorneys, as well as our marketing team.”
Council member Gary Williams took issue with the ordinance language, which presents the 1 percent sales tax increase as “1.00%.”
He thought that this might confuse some voters, saying that they might read it as 100 percent instead of the 1 percent being proposed.
He asked, “So, I’m wondering if we can’t just say 1 percent?”
Harris said that he could “certainly ask attorney, Bob Cole,” but that he mainly thought this was just a “stylistic” issue, with Williams responding that he thought it was a “perception issue that could affect the vote.”
Harris noted that he would “confer” with Cole “to see if that’s something we could tweak,” but reminded the council that some of the “language is set in stone, if I recall.”
“I believe that’s in the part where our attorney told us we can only make minor changes, so I’m wondering if that’s not set by state statute and that’s the way we have to do it,” Mayor Shari Pierce said, adding, “We can still check and make sure.”
When a motion was made to approve the ordinance’s second reading, calling for the coordinated election and setting the ballot language for a possible sales tax increase, the motion was seconded and passed unanimously by the council.
The new revenue generated would be used “to construct, reconstruct, improve, repair, better, extend, operate and maintain sewerage and wastewater reuse facilities to serve the town,” the ordinance states.
derek@pagosasun.com
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