McQueeney: For child care and wildfire, vote ‘yes’ on 1A
Valley Voices
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This November, please vote “yes” on Eagle County Lodging Tax Ballot Issue 1A. The measure will ask lodging visitors to pay $10 more for each $500 per-night stay to support child care and wildfire mitigation efforts.
Why support?
Wildfire mitigation and child care are high priorities in Eagle County, but there are significant funding gaps that prevent the community from being properly served in each of these areas. Voting “yes” on 1A will provide sustainable funding for these two critical needs.
I agree with the more than 60 percent of voters, polled earlier this year, that “Visitors CAN Help.” A recent Eagle County survey confirms that child care and wildfire are two of the top priorities for residents in our community. Also, this 2% lodging tax increase would not be paid by locals who are struggling with affordability. By statute, 10% of these funds will also actually be awarded to marketing local tourism efforts to benefit the local lodging industry.
In the coming weeks, opponents may try to muddy the waters, so let’s stay clear: The dollars collected by this 2% increase will augment existing Eagle County wildfire and child care programs that have been proven to work.
The county has an early childhood roadmap that provides guidance on how to best invest in the early childhood system. Additional funding will allow us to focus on the high cost of child care and develop programs to help make care more affordable for families. We all know that the wildfire risk is trending steeply upward. Wildfire mitigation techniques are proven to work, but the wildland areas in Eagle County are vast. For each additional $1 million in wildfire funding, we could achieve 2,000 to 3,000 acres of wildfire mitigation.
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The tax is only collected where no municipal lodging tax already exists — in unincorporated Eagle County and Gypsum — and only voters in those areas will see the question on their ballot.
A compromise solution
As a member of the Eagle County Board of Commissioners, this September, I voted in favor of placing this measure on the ballot. We had the statutory option to ask for a 4% raise, instead of a 2% raise. However, we heard from the lodging community that a 4% increase would be detrimental to its competitive edge. The smaller 2% increase is meant to be a compromise designed to keep our lodging businesses competitive while still providing the dollars needed for these programs.
What about housing?
We also heard from our regional collaborators that the time was not right to ask for a tax to apply to regional housing solutions. Together with other municipalities and leaders in our community, Eagle County is working on a coordinated, strategic set of solutions to increase our collective ability to address this important issue. Therefore, we did not include housing as an aspect of how these tax revenues would be used.
Housing, child care, wildfire and cost of living repeatedly appear as the most important issues to voters in Eagle County. By asking visitors to pay through the lodging tax, we can tackle two of these challenges without increasing sales tax or mill levy.
The issue is straightforward: Our local workforce is struggling to make a life here and needs our help. Along with the majority of polled voters, we believe that visitors can help the people that serve them while they are here on their vacations, and that this, in turn, can bolster our economy and quality of life. We believe this initiative will strengthen our workforce, provide a net benefit to businesses, and help reduce the threat of wildfire disaster.
I hope you will join me in voting yes on 1A, and support our community’s fire safety and our workforce’s access to quality child care.
