Ballot Issue 1A was approved by La Plata County voters in the November 5 general election. The measure will reallocate 70% of the county’s lodger’s tax to childcare programs and housing opportunities for the tourism-related workforce.
In the past two years, county officials listened to the concerns of mothers and childcare organizations advocating for more affordable childcare for the local workforce. Advocates say spending of lodgers’ tax dollars could start as soon as next summer.
Tiffany Chacon, a teacher at Durango Montessori and mother to twins, knows about 100 families for whom the budget restructuring could help. She’s been advocating for this reallocation for years.
I struggled to find childcare, as many of the families in La Plata county do,” said Chacon, “I was an early childhood teacher. I was headed every single day to go and teach a classroom of 10 kiddos aged two and a half to five years old. During that time, I could not afford the $2,000 a month to pay for child care, but I still had to go to work to stay and live here in La Plata County.”
Chacon says families in La Plata County are struggling to afford childcare.
“We have families that we need to live here in order to continue supporting La Plata County's economy. Children are going somewhere without quality care that parents are worrying, stressing throughout their day about what their children are doing,” said Chacon.
When tourists visit Durango, go skiing at Purgatory, soak at the Durango Hot Springs, and rent hotels and vacation homes, they pay a county lodger’s tax. It's separate from the city of Durango’s lodger’s tax, grossing almost 1 million dollars annually.
Heather Hawk is the Executive Director of the Early Childhood Council of La Plata County, a state-funded institution with 24 branches around Colorado that aims to connect families with childcare resources.
“In La Plata County, only 36% of children under three have access to licensed, high-quality childcare,” said Hawk.
Hawk says it’s essential for the county to invest in the local workforce.
“Tourist industries are important to local economies, but tourist industries rely very heavily on a workforce that has to live here. It's not a remote job. The people working the train, the people serving customers who are selling products to visitors, those are individuals that have to be there in person. So they need access to some very basic services in our community, housing, childcare, medical care,” said Hawk.
Voices From the Edge of the Colorado Plateau is a reporting collaboration between KSUT Public Radio and KSJD Community Radio. It seeks to cover underrepresented communities in the Four Corners.
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