Snowmass asked to endorse early childhood tax

It’s never too early to start thinking about childcare. 

With only 44% of necessary space available to children ages up to 5 between Aspen and Parachute, mothers sometimes begin planning before birth.

“I used to say this anecdote of ‘I was talking to one mom who got on the Blue Lake Preschool waiting list before she called her husband to say she was pregnant,'” childcare advocate Hannah Berman told Snowmass Town Council on Monday as she asked them to support the Confluence Early Childhood Education Coalition’s proposed childcare tax. “And now that I’ve said that anecdote multiple times, I have had multiple moms be like, ‘Oh, yeah, I did that, too.'”

This November, the coalition will ask voters to pass a 0.25% sales tax to improve funding for care and education of children aged up to 5 in the region, a particularly important need as an estimated 90% of brain development occurs before children turn 5, according to the coalition. The tax — which has a campaign labeled “Strong Start Bright Future for our Kids” — would encompass a special district including all of Pitkin and Garfield counties as well as the southwest section of Eagle County, the area in the Roaring Fork School District.

“We just wanted to kind of streamline things, have less bureaucracy, and make sure that we were taking an approach that fit the economic corridor we live in and the regional community we live in,” Berman, who is involved in the coalition and is a member of Basalt Town Council, said of the special district approach. 

Essential goods like groceries, gas, medications, diapers, and feminine hygiene products would be exempt from the tax. The coalition expects the tax would raise about $10 million annually, providing the area with grants to improve the quality and capacity of programs, improving outreach so parents find the childcare they need, funding administrative costs and evaluations of programs, and supplying tuition assistance for families. 

Berman said Roaring Fork Valley parents currently pay 15% of their salary per child on early childhood care — more than double the federal standard of 7%. 

“We know families that spend more on childcare than they spend on housing,” she said, “and we all know how expensive housing is in this valley.”

The coalition emphasized the importance of its cause, citing research showing those that have access to childhood care and education are better prepared for kindergarten, learn to read earlier, live healthier lives, have better-developed life skills, are more likely to graduate from high school and go to college, and earn higher salaries.

Coalition Director Maggie Tiscornia said the district tax would not be used to establish and operate childcare programs. 

“It would really be a funding mechanism to support families and providers as efficiently as possible,” she said. 

She added that the funds could cover capital infrastructure costs, such as those associated with the $8 million Little Red School House remodel the town of Snowmass Village is working toward.

Also on this November’s ballot will be a question establishing five board members to manage the tax funds, should the tax be approved by voters. Seats would be distributed across the district, spread primarily through the Roaring Fork and Colorado river valleys. The board would decide how to distribute the funding drawn from the tax.

The coalition said they are hopeful the tax will pass, as they saw a majority approval rate in polls they conducted across the region earlier this year. 

Snowmass Town Council member Tom Fridstein said Snowmass is supportive of early childhood education, as is evident by their planned investment in the Little Red School House. However, Snowmass has not yet formally endorsed the tax. 

For more information on the tax, visit strongstartbrightfuture.com.

Skyler Stark-Ragsdale can be reached at 970-429-9152 or email him at sstark-ragsdale@aspentimes.com.