Bond proposal causes controversy in Dolores County

Bond proposal causes controversy in Dolores County

Nov. 4, 2000

By Janelle Holden
Journal Staff Writer

A divided Dolores County will go to the polls on Tuesday to vote on whether the county should raise taxes to build a new Dove Creek high school. The proposed school bond failed by a slim margin in the last two elections, but proponents are hoping the reduced $4.4 million measure will appeal to its former critics.

"We have tried to pull the community together this time around," said Lana Hancock, who serves on the bond committee.

If the measure passes, Dolores County residents would pay the $4.4 million over a 25-year period, and shell out $371,000 the first year.

In the former bond questions, a larger school would have been located next to the current football field. The new building would be located north of the old school and will utilize the school’s industrial-arts annex.

Students would also be able to continue to use the gymnasium in the old high school for basketball practices. Currently the gymnasium has a limited amount of seating, and locker rooms with exits that don’t meet code, but Hancock explained that it is also an important community center.

"We use our gymnasium for everything from sports to Christmas programs, and I can’t tell you how many funerals," said Hancock.

But no matter how small the bond, it has little appeal for Rico taxpayers, whose students will likely never attend a Dove Creek school.

"There is a group of citizens in Rico right now who are really resentful of this end of the county," commented Doug Funk, editor of the Dove Creek Press. "It’s like they think we’re in a conspiracy to steal their money."

The 160 year-round Rico residents are separated from the community of Dove Creek by an extensive mountain wilderness area and the Dolores River. Currently, the Rico Elementary School is closed and Rico students commute 20 miles north to Telluride or 34 miles south to Dolores . In turn, Telluride and Dolores receive state and federal per-pupil funding for each Rico student.

To placate Rico residents, the bond would appropriate $300,000 from the county’s recent $1 million settlement with Shell over carbon-dioxide revenues toward Rico elementary-school renovations. Another $200,000 of the funds would go toward renovating the Dove Creek High School industrial-arts building, and $200,000 to improve the Dove Creek elementary school.

In a letter to the editor to the Dove Creek Press, Rico residents complained that the $300,000 falls short of what is needed to repair the Rico Elementary School. They said a building assessment estimated that the school’s renovations would cost a total of $408,960.

The Rico group said Rico pays 16.78 percent of Dolores School District taxes, which amounts to $738,241.91 of the bond. "Rico is being asked to pay over $3 for every $1 that will be spent in Rico," they wrote.

The letter also stated that Rico was in the process of trying to legally secede from the Dolores School District and merge with their San Miguel County neighbors.

Jerrie Akey, a member of the Rico town board who’s pushing for the secession, said the movement started four months ago, and will need the approval of both Telluride and Dove Creek residents to leave the district.

"It’s simply an issue of tax money," explained Akey. "We all want to see Dove Creek get a new school, but it’s never going to be a benefit to Rico."

Lana Hancock, a member of the Dove Creek school-bond committee, admitted that Rico has little incentive to vote for the bond. "It’s really a sad situation that Dove Creek and Rico are in the same county, because we’re two worlds apart."

Hancock said members of the bond committee met with Rico at a town-board meeting last year to discuss the school bond, and have tried to keep the town informed of their plans.

"It’s unfortunate, but I think the one thing that we have in common is that we want the very best for our children," she said.

The current Dove Creek High School is close to 50 years old. Superintendent Don Davis explained that the school has problems with ventilation, heating systems, classrooms, and gym capacity.

In 1999 the school board ordered a building study which quoted a $6.7 million figure to perform the needed repairs.

Currently 100 students, in grades 9 through 12, attend the school. Davis said that if the new school is built the district would write grants asking for funds to provide additional classroom resources for students.

Davis said the new schools would further Dove Creek students’ academic opportunities, "particularly in the science areas because our science labs are woefully inadequate."

The gym also needs to be renovated, but Davis said "this has become much more than a gym situation or an athletic situation," because the building would also need rewiring to host the amount of computers currently overloading the system.

Hancock said the allegations that the school board and committee’s proposal is not well-researched are completely false.

She said they have been working for three years to develop a suitable plan for the new high school. "The fact remains we still need a new high school, and in order to try and work with the community, I feel personally that we’ve cut the school as far as we can cut it," she explained.

Funk said the bond question has caused some controversy in Dove Creek. "I think it’s filled the air over lots of coffee cups."