<\/p>\n
Funding for a new Durango-La Plata County Airport terminal would likely have a fighting chance if voters were asked in 2016 to raise sales taxes for the project, a poll released Tuesday showed.<\/p>\n
A new terminal on the east side of the runway and other necessary infrastructure could be around $85 million in the first phase, and a tax increase is needed to fund $40 million of the project.<\/p>\n
The support for a potential sales-tax increase was split almost evenly: 50 percent for and 47 percent against, with only 3 percent of the 400 people saying they were undecided.<\/p>\n
The low percentage of undecided votes reflects a maturity of the issue in the minds of voters, said Keith Frederick, the pollster to the Durango City Councilors and La Plata County Commissioners.<\/p>\n
The measure floated in the poll would raise sales taxes a third of a cent on every dollar spent across the county. In Durango, it would increase from 7.9 percent to 8.22 percent.<\/p>\n
A large majority opposed a property-tax increase that would fund terminal construction. Residents would pay 85 cents per month for every $100,000 of home value under the theoretical increase.<\/p>\n
Attitudes on two potential property-tax increases become more entrenched the second time they were asked at the end of the poll.<\/p>\n
While the officials did not make a decision on a tax increase, they agreed not to put the question on the ballot until at least 2016.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no piece of evidence that 2015 is a good idea,\u201d said Commissioner Julie Westendorff.<\/p>\n
The county may place a measure on the 2015 ballot to raise property taxes for roads and bridges, and two tax measures competing against each other could be bad for both, the poll showed.<\/p>\n
About 18 percent of those polled said they would vote against all tax increases, which hurt the airport\u2019s already thin margins, Frederick said.<\/p>\n
However, if the tax increase is placed on the ballot in 2016, odds are better voters will OK it. Working-age men are the biggest supporters of a new terminal, and they are more likely to turn out during a presidential election.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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