La Plata County, Colorado

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Colorado 3,178,000 (1984)
La Plata Co. 30,373 (1988)

Density

Colorado 30.7 per sq. mi
La Plata Co. 17.95 per sq. mi.

Economy

Colorado 1. government, 2. services, 3. wholesale and retail trade
La Plata Co. 1. services, 2. retail trade, 3. government

Per Capita Income

Colorado $13,847 (1984)
La Plata Co. $9,398 (1985)

Expenses

Colorado Taxes: 3% sales tax; 27.14 1¢ per gallon gasoline tax; 3 to 8% personal income tax

La Plata Co. Taxes: residential property tax per $1,000 assessed property value, $41 to $97, depending on municipality; 2% sales tax; 2% municipal (city of Durango) tax; 1.9% lodger's tax. Median house value (1988): $79,937; median rental: $475.

Unemployment

(February 1989)
Colorado 7.4%
La Plata Co. 8.6%

Education

La Plata Co. 7 elementary, 2 junior high, 1 senior high schools; 5 private schools; 1 four-year college. Avg. public schoolteacher's salary (1989): $28,386. Student-teacher ratio: 21:1; attendance rate: 96%; dropout rate: 6.1%.

Climate

Colorado Avg. precipitation: 17" per year. Growing season: 0 to 180 days, depending on altitude. Avg. daily temperature: January, 24°F;July, 67.7°F. La Plata Co. Avg. precipitation: (Durango) 18.61" per year. Avg. snowfall: Durango (6,512'), 74.8' ; Lemon Dam (8,090'), 190.3' ; Purgatory Ski Area (midway, 10,200'), 300". Growing season: 108 days. Avg. daily temperature: (Durango)January,25.7°F; July, 67.4°F. Avg. annual days below 0°F: (Durango) 11.

"If A-LP goes through, the river below the pump station will be reduced to a constant low level, creating something akin to a big irrigation ditch. The state fisheries people say that A-LP won't hurt the fishing. But based on a great many years spent studying this river, I disagree. The Animas is so wide, so shallow, that with a reduced water flow, I believe it will warm to the point of significantly reducing fish production. And even if I'm wrong about this, we'll still have lost the beautiful pattern of seasonal changes associated with a free-flowing river. I just don't think A-LP is the best solution to water use in this region."

The concerned observer is led to wonder: What effects might significant population growth—from A-LP, DACRA's ongoing "Come on in, the water's fine!" campaign or any other cause—have on law and order hereabouts?

Bill Gardner's election nearly three years ago as sheriff of La Plata County brought a fresh and welcome breeze to a long-stale office. Bill, 40, has been a resident of La Plata County for 10 years. He and his wife have three children. In addition to the crimes the sheriff enumerates, in 1988—an uncommonly violent year everywhere, it seems—La Plata County also saw a kidnapping and three murders, two of which remain unsolved.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print