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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Attitudes on two potential property-tax increases become more entrenched the second time they were asked at the end of the poll.
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.
“There is no piece of evidence that 2015 is a good idea,” said Commissioner Julie Westendorff.
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.
About 18 percent of those polled said they would vote against all tax increases, which hurt the airport’s already thin margins, Frederick said.
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.
