• Antonia Clark

• Barb Bowman

• Bill Carver

• Brad Tafoya

• Brenda Macon

• Brooke Henderson

• Chris Vivolo

• Christina Rinderle

• Cynthia Sims

• Dave Woodruff

• David Moler

• Debra Chee

• Dian Jenkins

• Erica Max

• Jack Llewelyn

• James Flint

• Jasper Welch

• Jennifer Wheeling

Tax in April 2021. Some quick history. In 1980 the citizens of Durango supported a 2% Lodger’s tax on hotels, motels and other lodging for less than 30-day visits for people staying in City of Durango lodging properties. Over the past 40 years, the Durango Lodger’s tax has supported the City of Durango efforts to appropriately market Durango, improve transportation services, support visitor services, local businesses, and provide accurate information on the Durango area. So why a Lodger’s Tax increase now?

Lodger’s tax has not been increased since 1980, so over the past two years, local citizens and business organizations from the arts & culture sector, lodging & restaurant sector, special events and City transit services have worked together with the Durango City Council to bring this Lodger’s Tax ballot measure to City voters for their approval. There are 4 areas of focus for funding from an increase in the City of Durango Lodger’s Tax. In increasing lodging tax from 2% to a 5.25%, beginning in June 2021, of the total taxes collected, 55% of the revenue generated by the increase would go to sustainable tourism marketing; 20% to transportation and transit services; 14% to arts and culture programs; and 11% to any of the previous uses or other tourism impacts. The City of Durango Staff and Council are responsible for the legal distribution and use of lodger’s tax revenues. In addition, recipients of lodger’s tax dollars must present an annual budget and management plan to City Staff and Durango City Council for their review and approval.

How will the residents of Durango benefit? Sustaining the viability of our local transportation and transit options with adequate funding, strengthening our economy with vibrant and diverse arts and culture programs, managing tourism benefits to create opportunities focusing on the shoulder season for jobs, and increasing the overall City tax base for facilities, amenities and services benefitting all Durango residents.”

— The Tax Locals Don’t Pay Committee

“The Durango Area Hospitality and Lodger’s Association is in Support of the proposed Lodging Tax increase. This increase would raise the tax rate from the current 2% to 5.25% beginning in June 2021. The proposed increase will help bring Durango more in line with the tax rate of most of Colorado and surrounding cities as well as support the sustainable marketing of Durango area tourism, transportation and other transit services benefiting both locals and transient guests alike. This proposed tax increase would also support the arts community and other cultural programs and is not a tax that burdens our local residents.”

— Durango Area Hospitality & Lodgers Association (DAHLA)

Support lodgers tax for sustainable tourism funding

In the debate over ballot measure 1-A, the increase to Durango’s lodgers tax, I have heard a lot of elitism and sentiment that seems to “look down” on our tourism economy and local jobs.

As a small business owner and an employer in our region, I would like to encourage our community to reconsider labeling jobs as “good” or “bad.” Many argue that because some jobs in hospitality and lodging are hourly or start at or near minimum wage that they are undesirable jobs. These jobs are important to our community and many tourism jobs pay quite well.

Yes, economic diversification is important and is a great long-term goal for our community, but that doesn’t mean Durango’s tourism economy can’t also thrive. Tourism is Durango’s most important industry and whether directly or indirectly, it impacts nearly every aspect of the community life that we love.

As the Board Chair for Visit Durango and a small business owner, I support 55% for sustainable tourism marketing. Visit Durango promotes tourism in a responsible way and prioritizes stewardship of the environment. If granted the extra funds, Visit Durango can promote tourism that takes full account of current and future economic, social and environmental impacts while addressing the needs of all stakeholders: visitors, the tourism industry, the environment, and residents. Join me in supporting ballot measure 1-A.

-David Moler, Letter to the Editor, Durango Herald

Vote ‘Yes’ on lodgers tax issue

Everything in the pandemic has been hard. We’ve all experienced tough times and navigated our own challenges.

Voting yes on Ballot Issue 1-A gives us some low-hanging fruit to put us on a quicker path to restoration. The path to economic and community recovery from the pandemic starts here.

By increasing the lodgers tax, a tax that most of us will likely never have to pay, to a reasonable percentage, our community has the opportunity to thrive as we come out of a global pandemic. Allowing the funds collected from the increase to go toward the marketing management of Durango, the transit system and the arts will be critical in the success of our city and county.

We all know that the pandemic has been challenging for most if not all of us, however, some industries like the hospitality industry have been ravaged by the coronavirus. Increasing lodgers’ tax will help to get these hospitality sectors back on track in both the short and long term.

The recovery will not happen automatically as we come out of pandemic restrictions. It will take a concerted effort by all of us to be forward-thinking and creative to realize the hard work that will be required to lift our community back up. Voting yes on Ballot Issue 1-A is a step in the right direction to get our general and creative economy where it needs to be for us to flourish.

Let’s roll up our sleeves to work together and thrive once again.

-Dave Woodruff, President, Durango Chapter - Colorado Restaurant Association, Letter to the Editor, Durango Herald

In just a few short weeks we will have the opportunity to vote on the question of whether we should increase the lodger’s tax to support the arts, transportation, and tourism marketing. While it may seem that there is an ample supply of visitors coming to Durango, a different perspective is in order.

I have operated the Strater for nearly 40 years and have seen the tourism landscape change dramatically. Currently, most of Durango’s visitors come from a regional (short haul) drive market that reaches into North Texas, Eastern Colorado, Albuquerque, and Phoenix. 30 years ago, the Strater got more summer visitors from New York City than we did from New Mexico! Most of our current “short-haul” visitors live within a 5-8 hour drive so they can be a spontaneous. They have been here before and will return again. They are less likely to spend money in our shops, restaurants and even our hotels because they own second homes or stay with family and friends.

The further away from a selected target market Durango is, the more focused and repetitive we need to be to generate attention. It takes a strong partnership with entities like the Colorado Tourism Office and receptive operators to reach long-haul destinations. That is money we don’t currently have so our spending falls to the less lucrative short-haul market that we have already penetrated.

In the past 10 years, Durango’s current tourism marketing budget allocation has dwindled in both size and buying power. It is not nearly as large as it needs to be to reach the valuable long-haul markets that many of our more affluent competitive cities attract. Since many of Durango’s current regional visitors are not actually staying in hotels but rather with friends, family and VRBOs, it is also true that the very industry that collects the taxes (lodging) is falling short of the real benefit of the long-haul marketing we desperately need. With a greater allocation thru this additional lodging tax, our future marketing efforts could help boost real taxable revenue in both the slow season and the long-haul markets. When we market to a long-haul source, such as Kansas City, Chicago, New York, Florida and California, we are much more likely to find visitors who are exploring Durango for the first time and who will actually stay in a hotel. According to research that I saw during my years with the Colorado Tourism Board, Long-haul travelers are much more likely to stay longer and spend their dollars in hotels, restaurants, galleries, and shops. This spending will contribute more to our local tax base.

The other part of the equation is the support of arts and transportation. 45% of the new tax money goes to those entities. Having spent the past 40 years working to support many of the arts thru the Henry Strater Theatre, I know that the arts and festivals are part of what makes Durango fun and different. This tax will give a boost to those entities that need public support.

Transportation will also be important to the future of attainable housing. It doesn’t seem likely that there will ever be enough money to subsidize homes within our city limits, but there are outlying areas where housing can be built in a more attainable price range within the county. Reliable transportation from areas like Three Springs and further out will help to enable that development and also reduce traffic.

While I personally hate the notion that this tax is a good one because we don’t pay it, it is one that is supported by the industry that is collecting it and is also subsidizing the tax. I believe that it will have benefits for our community in the long run. Please vote for the Lodgers tax even though you don’t have to pay it.

-Rod Barker, Owner, The Strater

“Over the past two years, local citizens and business organizations from the arts and culture sector, lodging and restaurant sector, special events, and city transit services have worked together with the city council to bring this lodgers’ tax ballot measure to City voters for their approval. In increasing the lodgers’ tax from 2% to 5.25%, beginning in June 2021, of the total taxes collected, 55% of the revenue generated by the increase would go to sustainable tourism marketing; 20% to transportation and transit services; 14% to arts and culture programs; and 11% to any of the previous uses or other tourism impacts. The good news is: you don’t pay this tax. Visitors do. With this increase, the Durango lodgers’ tax rate will go from second lowest in the State to being similar or slightly lower that most of the cities and towns in Colorado. Good marketing is essential. Tourism accounts for over 3500 jobs in our area, about 41% of all jobs. It is truly the bedrock of Durango’s economy. It takes a marketing effort to be sure that visitors to Durango are staying in our hotels, camp grounds and vacation rentals. With this funding, our local cultural nonprofit organizations, facilities, and events can do even more to increase our quality of life. This level of funding is both modest and necessary to the health of this important sector of our economy. Grants from the arts and culture fund, which will be established and administered by the City, are estimated to be less than 5% of each organization’s budget. This keeps those organizations responsible for the other 95% of their budget through earned revenue and fundraising activities. Every community has roads and sidewalks, but the ones you would want to live in have a vibrant arts and culture scene. These organizations are the keystones of our downtown community and provide value for our community. The multiplier effect of the dollars spent on live theater, film festivals, exhibits, and a thriving annual arts festival is conservatively one to eleven; for every dollar spent to see a show, another eleven are infused into the downtown restaurants, retailers, and hotels, and all of those dollars are taxable which adds to the bottom line of the city coffers and in turn improves our city services. Tourists also love to be part of or exposed to culture and art in our area so in a sense the art and culture opportunities are for sustainable tourism as well. Sustaining the viability of our local transportation and transit options with adequate funding, strengthening our economy with vibrant and diverse arts and culture programs, managing tourism benefits to create opportunities focusing on the shoulder season for jobs, and increasing the overall City tax base for facilities, amenities and services benefitting all Durango residents. Let’s make sure we have the funding to keep Durango the magical spot we are all so blessed to call home. Vote yes on the lodgers’ tax increase. It’s the tax you don’t pay.”

— Summary of Written Comments FOR Ballot Issue No. 1A

Hotelier supports lodgers tax increase

As a current hotel owner who began his career as a bus driver in Durango 40 years ago, I’m writing to express my support to increase Durango lodgers tax, which will help broaden and sustain positive economic impact for the long term.

Tourism has been a great entry-level position for many of us and can blossom into an amazing career path, which is what I’ve experienced. How many of you had a first job working in a hotel or motel, at a restaurant or attraction such as the DS&NGR, Purgatory, or a rafting company where you gained customer service skills, work ethics and the ability to work with a diverse group of people?

Tourism continues to benefit the Durango economy. Annually, it generates over 26% of city sales tax collections. Tourism supports local jobs, improves community amenities such as increased air service, recreation and restaurants. And it has a “halo effect,” reinforcing that Durango is a great place to attend college, start a business, or retire. We all recognize that summer tourism business for the community is very brisk; however, you may not know that year-round average occupancy for lodging in Durango is 60%.

There is still opportunity to grow the economy in both shoulder/off seasons through new markets such as meetings, sports, and reunions. Targeting new types of market segments will require additional investment, as will continuing to move toward sustainable tourism through educating and attracting visitors who will be responsible, lower their impact and respect Durango’s precious resources.

-Chris Vivolo, Letter to the Editor, Durango Herald

Vote Yes on Lodgers Tax

During the financial crisis of 2008, the City had to cut funding to the Cultural organizations in town. 14% of the lodgers tax will be dedicated to Arts & Culture. With this funding, our local Cultural nonprofit organizations, facilities, and events can do even more to increase our resident’s quality of life. Every community has roads and sidewalks, but the ones you would want to live in have a vibrant Arts & Culture scene.

With 45% of the tax going to the City for public uses, the lodgers tax will also fund Transit, which helps alleviate the parking downtown and is vital to many of our community members to get to their jobs and other essential travel needs. The other 55% will go to Sustainable Tourism marketing, targeted to the off-seasons when so many of our local businesses need more revenue to keep their workforce employed.

I was on the stakeholder committee to establish the Durango Creative District, which is the umbrella organization for our Cultural organizations. I was also on the stakeholder committee that worked with the City to propose the lodgers tax increase, served as the founding President of the Creative District board, and continue to serve on the volunteer board. From the broad array of Durango’s Cultural organizations, I ask for your support with a “Yes” vote on the lodgers tax ballot question 1-A. The website is tourismfundsdurango.com.

-Bill Carver, Carver Brewing Co

Tourism Supports All of Durango’s Economy

As a part owner of the Strater hotel and a 4th generation Durangatang, I have been hearing about a lodgers’ tax increase for a long time.

Having grown up in Durango’s hospitality industry, it is something I value and hold dear. 2020 showed us how important tourism is to Durango. It has a massive direct impact on our economy, but I think a lot of people forget about its indirect impact. Visitors don’t just support hotels, restaurants, and the train, they support our whole economy and our community. Without tourism people wouldn’t start their careers here, open new businesses, enroll at Fort Lewis, or invest here. Tourism is the first stop for economic development and a historical linchpin for Durango. For the rest of our economy to succeed, we also need tourism to succeed.

I’m happy to see that part of the lodgers’ tax is going to support the creative economy, as well. Being a popular travel destination and having a vibrant cultural community is a recipe for success.

By taxing our visitors about $4 extra per night, we will be helping maintain the amazing quality of life we all enjoy. Local resident taxes go to help support Durango, why wouldn't we want visitors to help too?

We are lucky to have the opportunity to back this Initiative and I hope you will join me in doing so.

-Jeremy Barker, Part-Owner, The Strater & 4th Generation Durangatang