Durango, CO: Council directed staff to pursue the reauthorization of the city’s 2005 ½-cent sales tax without a 1/8-cent increase included in the draft ballot language.

Staff presented two options to council. One option was to maintain the same 1/2-cent tax rate and increase the sunset period of the sales tax from 20 to 30 years. The second of the drafted options proposed raising the tax 1/8 of a cent, while also increasing the sunset period of the sales tax from 20 to 30 years.

Council voted 3-1 in favor of maintaining the 1/2-cent tax rate in the upcoming ballot measure. Councilor Gilda Yazzie voted against the maintaining the 1/2-cent tax rate, and councilor Olivier Bosmans abstained from voting.

Council typically meets on the first and third Tuesday of the month. The second meeting this month was moved to Monday, June 17, to accommodate a Colorado Municipal League conference they are attending.

At the regular meeting held at City Hall, 949 East Second Ave., council:

• Proclaimed the week of June 24 through June 28 Boys and Girls Club week for youth in La Plata County.
• Voted to appropriate additional funds to the city’s grants fund for the childcare operations stabilization grant and the workforce sustainability grant. The Colorado Office of Early Childhood administers federal stimulus funding and has awarded the City of Durango childcare program $12,023. The city received $7,023 for the operations stabilization grant and $5,000 for classroom furnishings
• Heard a presentation on the reauthorization of the 2005 sales tax and potential bond financing. In the 2023 the council gave staff direction to get cost estimates for the renovations of the Police Department, City Hall, and municipal services building at the former school district administration building. The council also gave direction to act towards reauthorizing the tax and maintaining the same use of funds in the current ballot language for Capital Projects and Parks, Open Space, and Trails.
• Voted to make amendments to the budget to add $55,000 to the airport construction fund to rehabilitate the restrooms at the fire station at the airport.