It's official.
Bayfield will try for a third time to get voter approval to raise the town sales tax rate, with the additional money committed for street maintenance, drainage infrastructure, and related items.
Town trustees approved the ballot wording on Tuesday. Sept. 4 is the deadline to certify wording for the Nov. 3 county combined election ballot. They also approved wording for a question to opt out of a 2005 state law that blocks local governments from directly or indirectly providing high speed broadband internet or other telecom services.
Town officials want to raise the town sales tax from 2 percent up to 3 percent. It is expected to bring in an additional $240,000 to $280,000 a year. Voters rejected the proposal twice in 2014. This time the proposal has a 20-year sunset.
A volunteer citizens committee calling itself Save Our Streets is promoting the increase. Committee member Ron Dunavant spoke in favor of the increase at the town board meeting. He lives outside town limits and argued that a sales tax increase is a matter of fairness and sharing the load, since people who live outside town limits but use town streets will help pay for street maintenance, as will people just passing through.
Other proposals to help pay for street maintenance, various types of fee increases, would fall just on town residents and property owners, he said.
If approved, the higher sales tax will take effect on Jan. 1, 2016, Town Manager Chris La May said.
Based on a board request in August, he provided two other resolutions stating board support for the sales tax increase. They were the same except one included a proposal from trustee Ed Morlan to have trustees put on red clown noses, which he was ready to provide, and have a group photo taken. He wanted that to illustrate the Save Our Streets slogan, "The need (for the tax increase) is as plain as the nose on your face."
There was a question in August and Tuesday evening of how that would fit with state restrictions on campaign activities by public officials. Town attorney Jeff Robbins said state law doesn't preclude taking a position or how to do that. It's not technically illegal, but he advised against the board as a whole taking a position.
Individual board members taking a position is fine, he said. Asked if that includes wearing a red clown nose, Robbins said, "The Fair Campaign Practices Act makes no reference to red noses."
Mayor Rick Smith said, "I think we walk a fine line. The thing I wouldn't want to happen is, if we do this and the question passes, that someone could challenge it. I don't want to risk anything. The stakes are really high."
Other trustees agreed. They didn't vote on either statement of support. Trustee Rachel Davenport said putting the question on the ballot is a statement of support in itself.
The other ballot question opts the town out of restrictions in Senate Bill 152, passed in 2005, so the town can lease excess capacity on its fiber optic network to private providers that would in turn provide high speed broadband to business and residential customers. Ignacio, Durango, and La Plata County will have similar opt out questions on the Nov. 3 ballot.
