The Confluence Early Childhood Education Coalition is proposing the creation of a special tax district in Garfield, Pitkin and Eagle counties that would help fund local childhood development services.

Comprised of parent leaders and nonprofit, business and education sector locals, the coalition is working to increase access to early education and child care programs from Parachute to Aspen. 

The initiative has been in the works since 2017, when the coalition identified child care as a critical issue in the Parachute to Aspen area. Acknowledging that many parents cross county lines during their everyday commutes, the group views accessible child care as a regional issue.

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The district would traverse county lines, levying sales tax in Garfield, Pitkin and western Eagle counties to help alleviate the financial burden of child care for local families. Funds would also be used to improve the quality — and availability — of childhood development services. 

Sales tax from Parachute to Aspen would rise by 0.25% — 25 cents for every $100 spent. Necessities, including groceries, diapers, medicine and medical equipment, gas and feminine hygiene products, would be exempt from the tax.

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Estimated to collect around $10 million within the first year, the tax would fund financial subsidies for early care and education programs. 

The initiative would also help families find child services and expand early care and education program capacity, funding and quality. This includes improved wages and training for caretakers, in a bid to attract — and keep — a qualified child care workforce.

Recent coalition data highlights the severe shortage of child care in Garfield County.

About 5,200 children under age 5 call the Parachute to Aspen region home, according to the coalition’s fall 2024 licensed provider survey report. Conducted between September and November, the survey was used to collect capacity information for 75 out of 78 licensed providers in the region. Data for the three remaining providers was pulled from the September Colorado Licensed Child Care Facilities Report, according to the coalition.

Based on staffed capacity, around 44% of the region’s young children have a spot in licensed early care and education programs.

From Carbondale to Glenwood Springs, there are spots for 54% of the area’s young children. That percentage drops from New Castle to Parachute, where only 29% of children can be served, the survey reports.

Early child care can also be expensive. In Garfield County, parents pay around $1,192 a month for full-time child care for a preschooler, $1,300 for a toddler and $1,352 for an infant, according to the report. 

That means families in the county who earn $86,172 — the median income, according to the U.S. Census Bureau — spend around 17% or more of their annual income on full-time child care for one child under 5 years old.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, affordable child care should cost no more than 7% of a family’s income. 

“One of the key services is this area of financial subsidies to make care more affordable for families,” Coalition Director Maggie Tiscornia said. “The strong intention is for those dollars to follow the child so that families can choose the kind of care that works for them.

“The Universal Preschool program and some other programs…are subsidizing slots with providers,” Tiscornia added. “The way that we would like this to work is that it would follow the child, so if a child moves to a different provider, that funding would follow.”

For the proposed tax district to appear on a ballot in November, county commissioners in Garfield, Pitkin and Eagle counties must approve the coalition’s service plan.

Coalition representatives and advocates met with the Garfield County Board of County Commissioners for a work session regarding the proposal on Tuesday.

Dana Peterson, chief workforce and development officer at Mountain Family Health Centers, was one of many who spoke in support of the initiative.

“Like many parents in Garfield County, I faced an impossible challenge — a very short period of paid maternity leave. I was out less than six weeks,” Peterson told the board in an emotional explanation of her struggles as a working parent. “It was just awful. I had to return to work, not because I wanted to leave my baby so soon, but because I had a slot that opened up and I had to take that slot so that I could continue working. 

“Not only was the cost of child care staggering, but it was like a second mortgage,” Peterson added. “I spent countless months on the waitlist only to find that I only had two days of care when I needed five. It was really hard.”

Commissioners will solidify the date for a public hearing regarding the special tax district during the board’s regular meeting at 8 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 10 at the County Administration building, 108 8th St., Glenwood Springs.

If county commissioners greenlight the initiative and it’s approved by voters, the coalition will have created the state’s first special tax district devoted to early child care and education.

“I want to do all I can to help something like this. I think it’s exciting,” Commissioner Mike Samson told the coalition on Tuesday.  “I’ll tell you, I’ve really enjoyed being a county commissioner in many ways because we’ve done a lot of firsts.”