Early Childcare, EMS, Search & Rescue Considered for Lodging Tax Increase

Hinsdale County Commissioners are narrowing their focus on specific ballot language for multiple questions to be put before county voters this November. At their morning workshop Wednesday this week, Commissioners Borchers, Levine, and Hurd discussed at length specifics of a proposed lodging tax increase of up to four percent.
During informal discussion, it was repeatedly stated that a three percent lodging tax increase may be more amenable to county voters and thus have a better chance for passage. Hinsdale County currently has a two percent lodging tax for marketing but new state legislation expands the parameters on how the tax may be used — adding medical services, early childcare, and affordable housing to the mix — for a maximum of up to six percent.
Although the discussion is ongoing and will be continued at the county board’s Wednesday, August 6, workshop, the three commissioners have apparently reached concensus on seeking voter approval for a one percent lodging tax increase for both Hinsdale County Search & Rescue and Early Childcare.
Still up for discussion at the urging of Commissioner Levine is whether ballot language will include either a one or two percent lodging tax increase for Hinsdale County Emergency Medical Services.
Based on 2024 lodging tax revenues, one percent equates to $66,343. Earlier in workshop, both Commissioners Hurd and Borchers had indicated support for a one percent lodging tax increase for EMS, although Commissioner Levine was adamant that Hinsdale EMS — which annually receives a substantial financial subsidy from the county — is “financially strained” and, depending on further discussion, may warrant two percent of lodging tax revenues equating to roughly $130,000 on an annual basis.
“I worry about EMS a lot,” said Levine, noting on that on consecutive days last month the county’s EMS team received five calls, all before 6 a.m.
He emphasized, “a lot is being put on them.”
Commissioners Borchers and Hurd reiterated their unequivocal support for “sustainable funding” for all emergency providers, Commissioner Hurd adding his view that in future revenues from the revamped All Hazards Team Program may be able to provide greater financial support to emergency services.
A slight modification in Wednesday’s discussion on ballot wording for proposed lodging tax increases — and different from what has previously been reported — is that Lake City Area Medical Center is, at the medical board’s request, now out of the mix in terms of seeking a portion of lodging tax revenues.
Medical Center funding through lodging tax was complicated by the fact the health service district is already a taxing district and any portion of lodging tax revenues would necessarily go to the county and be apportioned at the county board’s discretion.
In a letter to commissioners from health services board of directors, it is stated that they now wish to be removed from further consideration for lodging tax revenues, commissioners surmising that “most likely,” said Levine, the health services district “will go for a sales tax increase in the near future.”
Medical center’s withdrawal from consideration for revenues from an added county lodging tax mirrors Lake City Area Fire Protection District which had initially expressed an interest in lodging tax revenues but later concluded to formulate its own fall, 2025, ballot question seeking a county sales tax increase specifically benefiting the fire district.
At the fire district’s meeting Tuesday evening this week, directors finalized plans to seek a 1.25 percent sales tax increase which, with voter approval this fall, would be collected by businesses within the fire district’s boundaries roughly estimated at about $425,000, according to fire district secretary Michelle Pierce. The revenue, in part, Pierce adds, is necessary due to recent determination that the district must hire a fire marshal in order to enforce fire code.
Also at Wednesday’s county board workshop and meeting, Lake City resident Ingrid Burnett was formally appointed as the county’s representative on the joint Hinsdale/Mineral County Silver Thread Public Health District. Each county board is allowed two positions on the health board, two Mineral County Commissioners serving on the board and Levine the sole county commissioner from Hinsdale County. Burnett will now represent the county as the second Hinsdale County representative.
At start of open discussion prior to start of workshop and regular meeting on Wednesday, Commissioner Borchers uncharacteristically volunteered first in line with a detailed, point by point response to an anonymous letter which has been received critical of the county.
Depending on space restrictions, WORLD plans to preprint Borcher’s rebuttal verbatim, although in this abbreviated mention she methodically addressed points in the unsigned letter which included a perceived need for greater financial oversight of the county board, additional details on the now revamped All Hazards Team Program which included Borchers’ acknowledgment that $1.25-million paid by the county as part of the program was ultimately not reimbursed by State of Colorado as the result of unintentional incorrect billing; and the demand in the anonymous letter for greater transparency, including financial and lease/purchase details, on the ongoing construction of the county’s new administration building adjoining Hinsdale County Courthouse on Henson Street.
Fellow Commissioners Levine and Hurd concurred with Borchers’ detailed rebuttal of the anonymous letter, Hurd thanking Borchers for compiling the information and emphatically stating “nothing is hidden,” while Commissioner Levine described Borchers’ summation as “very succinct and complete.” Levine continued, noting “the truth is the truth” and inviting and welcoming members of the public to personally attend meetings of the county board — or listen to audio recordings of the board’s meeting — in preference to drafting unsigned letters.
Again during open discussion portion of the commissioners’ July 30 meeting, Commissioner Hurd expressed his frustration with ongoing mandatory $8 day use fees required in order to visit Deer Creek Lakes on the Upper Cebolla. Hurd indicated particular outrage at what he termed “aggressive behavior” on the part of the Forest Service facility’s on-site managers which now extends, he said, to placing paper tickets on the windshields of parked vehicles.
Commissioners met earlier last month with Forest Service Supervisor Dale Funka who indicated that the decision to impose a charge at the popular fishing and moose-watching lakes was the result of a decision higher up in the F.S. administration and while now in place for this season might be revisited after further FS/county discussion this fall or winter.
Hurd indicated he was dissatisfied with the ongoing charge and wishes to bring the matter to a head “now rather than later.”
It is highly inappropriate, he said, for fishermen who have paid for a Colorado fishing license to be further billed in order to fish.
Commissioner Levine reported he had undertaken a fact finding mission last Thursday in which he visited Deer Lakes posing as a tourist with fishing pole, intentionally parked at the campground host’s campsite, used the facility’s toilet and trash dumpster and yet, inexplicably, was neither contacted nor charged.
Enforcement of the $8 charge, he concluded, is “selective,” Commissioner Hurd concurring, “it’s not a good situation.”