La Plata County Sales Tax

• Sales tax collections for February show an increase of $19,098 or 1.02% in comparison to the same period in 2023.
• Sales tax collections for March show a decrease of -$20,509 or -.99% in comparison to the same period in 2023.

La Plata County Lodgers Tax

• In 2022, new legislation expanded Colorado Counties’ use of Lodgers tax to include housing and childcare for tourism-related workers, seasonal workers and other workers, facilitating and enhancing visitor experiences and capital expenditures related to these purposes. But in order to reallocate Lodgers Tax for those purposes, La Plata County would have to ask voters approval. All three commissioners are in support of further discussions of the idea and are scheduled to do so at a business meeting on July 9th. 

La Plata County Road and Bridge 

• The County’s Long Term Finance Committee looked at a few scenarios to answer the question of how to fund the road and bridge department capital needs over the next 20 years.  Committee members laid out two basic potential ways to approach funding – raising property taxes or raising sales taxes.  No conclusions were drawn, nor decisions made, but La Plata County Commissioners discussed the possibility of a 3 mill increase which would raise about $140 million over 20 years. An increase in sales tax of .42% would raise $47 million over 20 years.  Either concept would require voter approval. 

La Plata County Land Use Code Changes

• The La Plata County Planning Commission recommended changes to the Land Use Code regarding traffic, which County Engineer Aaron McElvey said should make life easier for applicants and staff. The changes include raising the threshold for a project to be classified as a major project from a 5% traffic increase to a 20% increase. The changes also add flexibility related to traffic analysis, including expanding the ability to grant waivers.  The Land Use Code changes must be approved by the Board of County Commissioners before they go into effect.