Click the link to read the article on the Pagosa Springs Sun website (Derek Kutzer). Here’s an excerpt:
August 27, 2025
This November, voters in the Town of Pagosa Springs will decide if they want to raise the sales tax within town limits to fund critical sewer repairs and a wastewater treatment plant. On Aug. 19, the Pagosa Springs Town Council approved the second reading of an ordinance calling for the coordinated election and setting the language appearing on the ballot…
The town’s Public Works Department, in conjunction with an assessment by Roaring Fork engineering, has concluded that the overall system is rated as “poor” to “fair,” with the challenges including an aging pipe system (50 years of age on average) with one-third of the total system rated as needing “critical repairs or failing.” Most of the challenges stem from the 500-foot elevation gain the sewage must travel before it arrives for treatment at PAWSD’s Vista plant, the website indicates. The town has estimated that it will cost between $80 million and $100 million to make the system healthy and efficient, with $15 million needed “immediately” to repair the aging pipes just to keep the current system operational. After considering other options to fund the needed repairs and upgrades, such as raising rates on wastewater customers or raising property taxes, both town staff and the council determined that the sales tax option was “the most efficient” way to obtain the funding needed. Town Manager David Harris has stated that a 1 percent sales tax increase within the town would generate an estimated $3.6 million in the first year and take an estimated 25 years to generate all the funds necessary to complete the project, if the town decides to build its own treatment plant.