{"id":13834,"date":"2026-01-23T16:24:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T23:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-town-board-paperwork-due-monday-for-april-election\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:41:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:41:02","slug":"mancos-town-board-paperwork-due-monday-for-april-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-town-board-paperwork-due-monday-for-april-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Mancos Town Board paperwork due Monday for April election"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Voters
Voters can return completed ballots in the drop box outside Mancos Town Hall at 117 N. Main St. (Mercedes Yanito\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Paperwork to run for a position on the Mancos Town Board during the municipal election is due Monday by 5 p.m. at Town Hall.<\/p>\n

With the deadline approaching, the town is preparing for its April 7 election to determine three trustee seats while also asking voters to consider a proposed 0.4% sales tax increase dedicated to streets and broadband equipment.<\/p>\n

The town will administer the election independently this year rather than through Montezuma County, with assistance from an outside consulting firm. Officials hope for higher\u2011than\u2011usual turnout in a vote that will proceed regardless of how many candidates qualify.<\/p>\n

Three trustee seats are up for election, held by Nick Manning, Corey Jabour and David Peyton. All three incumbents are eligible to run. As of late last week, one nomination petition had been submitted, said town administrator Heather Alvarez.<\/p>\n

Candidates must be at least 18, registered to vote and have lived within Mancos town limits for at least one year. Alvarez said town boundaries do not follow street cutoffs, so prospective candidates may consult the zoning map to confirm residency. Nomination petitions require 10 valid signatures.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we\u2019re passing out petitions, if someone has questions, we always recommend that they get at least 20 signatures,\u201d Alvarez said. \u201cThis is just to make sure that they have enough qualifying signatures, because the signatures have to be registered to vote and live inside town limits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Proposed sales tax would fund streets, broadband upgrades<\/div>\n

A 0.4% sales tax increase will appear on the ballot. If approved by a simple majority, the measure would raise the town\u2019s total sales tax rate from 4% to 4.4%.<\/p>\n

Alvarez said the tax has not been raised since the 1990s and would be restricted to street and broadband capital needs, including equipment replacement and underground fiber infrastructure. The proposal does not include an increase to the use tax, which covers construction products, vehicle sales and similar items.<\/p>\n

Aging fleet, limited budget behind proposal<\/div>\n

Alvarez said some of the town\u2019s equipment is decades old, including a dump truck from<\/p>\n

\"Heather
Heather Alvarez has been with the town for 18 years. (Town of Mancos)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

the early 1970s donated by the county.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a very small budget, and our equipment is very old. The maintenance of our existing fleet is just not sustainable,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout capital and grants, just a regular operating income is about $800,000,\u201d she added. \u201cAnd when you figure a piece of heavy equipment is around six figures.\u201d<\/p>\n

If approved, the tax would also support underground broadband infrastructure. Alvarez said the funding would allow the town to take advantage of a \u201cdig once\u201d approach by installing fiber whenever streets are opened for other projects, reducing long\u2011term costs associated with repeated excavation.<\/p>\n

Return ballots via drop box or mail<\/div>\n

Ballots will be mailed to registered voters. Completed ballots may be returned by mail, dropped off in the box in front of Town Hall without postage, or delivered inside the building. Alvarez said turnout in past spring elections has typically hovered around 275 to 280 ballots out of about 1,100 registered voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want your voice heard anywhere and especially today when sometimes people don\u2019t feel heard and they get frustrated, you should vote in your small\u2011town elections,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Town hires outside firm to run election<\/div>\n

To administer the election, the town hired Electionland consultants, marking the first time Mancos will conduct an election without using county equipment. Alvarez said the firm is assisting with compliance, timelines and ballot preparation to ensure transparency and adherence to state statute.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are on the Front Range. They don\u2019t have a dog in our fight,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, it\u2019s much more transparent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alvarez said the town wants to show that the election is being handled openly and fairly, with staff available to answer residents\u2019 questions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A ballot question proposes raising taxes for streets, broadband<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13834"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19184,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13834\/revisions\/19184"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13834"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}