Four council candidates elected by big margin

County and Mt. Crested Butte issues all pass overwhelmingly
    
The great fall election of 2009 is over and Leah Williams won the office of Crested Butte mayor in a landslide Tuesday night, 426-0. Town voters returned veteran councilperson and former mayor Jim Schmidt to the Crested Butte Town Council for the next four years. John Wirsing steps into a new role as town councilman with a four-year term as well. Roland Mason who grew up in Crested Butte tied for third place with new business owner Phoebe Wilson. What is interesting is that the fourth place finisher in the council race gets a two-year term as opposed to a four-year term. Given the tie, the fourth place finish will be “determined by lot” such as a coin flip between Mason and Wilson.

Both Gunnison County ballot issues passed handily while up in Mt. Crested Butte, residents agreed to raise their taxes to keep the town running strong with all three tax questions passing by big margins.
In Crested Butte, Williams ran unopposed. According to the county’s “unofficial election results” Tuesday evening, Schmidt received a total of 374 votes, Wirsing tallied 357 votes, Mason and Wilson each got 317 votes. Coming in fifth was Don Haver with 205 votes, followed by Brian Kilkelly with 149 votes, Jay Harris garnered 123 votes and Guy Ciulla got 55. The official vote tally is certified eight days after the election.
“I am really excited,” Williams said Tuesday evening. “I look forward to it. I like working with the staff, the council and the public. I love doing this stuff. We don’t have all the money in the world right now so we have to get down to it. I am confident in this group.”
Schmidt too acknowledged it wouldn’t be all sunshine and balloons in the immediate future. “It looks like we have a lot of heavy lifting coming up,” he said. “There are a lot of things on the council’s plate and I am really looking forward to working with everyone. It will be nice to get to know everyone better, including Dan (Escalante) and Reed (Betz) who are already on the council. It will certainly be an interesting time.”
“I am honored and humbled,” stated Wirsing. “I look forward to serving the community.”
Wilson felt thrilled. “I am super excited,” she said. “My family is very proud and I can’t wait to get started. I think tomorrow it will really set in.”
Mason was born in Gunnison and grew up in Crested Butte. “It’s a little weird but it’s a long time coming in a sense,” he said. “I grew up being a town rat and now I get to help set town policy. There are a lot of issues out there but this is a place I really love and have wanted to stay. It’s exciting.”
The new council people will be sworn in November 16.

Energy efficiency loans and LMD tax approved

Gunnison County voters approved both of the countywide initiatives that were put on the ballot this year by a comfortable margin. When all of the ballots were counted, more than 3,600 residents turned out to have their say on the issues.
Referendum 1A will allow the County to use the proceeds of bond sales to offer county property owners access to low-interest Energy Smart Loans to pay for energy efficiency enhancing home improvements. The initiative passed by a 20 percent margin, with 2,206 people voting in favor and 1,417 people voting against it.
Office for Resource Efficiency (ORE) building director Andris Zobs says he’s “pleasantly surprised by the healthy margin in the vote. It seems like that is a pretty strong indication that this is the type of program people are looking for. I’m really excited because I think this vote enables us to become leaders in the region and provide a really good service to residents of Gunnison County.”
Loans can be used to cover the costs of many things related to energy efficiency or production, from insulating your home to installing solar panels.
Application fees should cover the costs of carrying out a bond sale, so no countywide taxes will be raised as a result of the program and only the people who get a loan will see any impact from it. Participants in the program will repay their loans through the property tax mechanism.
The County will bear the burden of administering the program and will need to get a certain number of participants before issuing a bond to spread out the costs of the sale. But the program is still in its conceptual stage, Zobs says. The voter approval of initiative 1A only grants the county permission to issue bonds if the opportunity arises.
Voters also approved Referendum 5A by a wide margin, with 2,790 residents voting in favor of it and just 822 voters opposed. The approval of 5A extends the County’s 4 percent Local Marketing District tax on overnight stays indefinitely.
Funds generated by the tax, which totaled more than $1 million last year, will continue to be invested in marketing the Gunnison Valley as a year-round tourist destination.
Supporters of the tax point out that visitors to the county pay the tax that, they say, benefits all residents of the Gunnison Valley.
After getting the results of the election, LMD reauthorization committee co-chair Joellen Fonken said, “I’m elated. It’s excellent and I can’t believe the percentage that it passed by. The reauthorization committee thanks everyone that was involved and it’s a confirmation that we’re on the right path.”

Mt. CB voters make full sweep

Mt. Crested Butte voters approved all three of the tax issues put forward by the town by a wide margin.  Mt. Crested Butte mayor William Buck says, “I couldn’t be happier and more grateful to the voters.”
Without a successful election the town was facing serious financial cutbacks.  “This election in particular was essential to re-establish and continue services to the town,” Buck says.  “The prospect of going forward without this was a pretty grim one.”
Prior to the election the town had anticipated cutting two full-time employees, eliminating a donation to the Nordic Center to groom the Rec Path, losing the lease on the Snowmass free public parking lot, and cutting the entire recreation department. Those cuts were planned in addition to several cuts made during the 2009 budget year.   
The ballot question asking voters to reauthorize the town’s admissions tax, issue 2B, passed by the highest margin, with 200 votes in favor and only 20 votes against the measure.  The admissions tax is a 4 percent tax on lift tickets, season passes, concert tickets and other activities that require admission.  No less than 25 percent of the funds generated by this tax are used to support transportation within the town – currently provided by the Mountain Express bus service.  The remaining 75 percent of the funds are used to help market the town and ski area.  The town offers annual grants through the admissions tax to businesses looking to boost their marketing efforts.
Ballot issue 2A asked voters to increase the town’s sales tax from 4 percent to 5 percent.  2A saw 168 voters in favor of the issue and 51 against – roughly 76 percent of the voters approved it.  The approval of 2A is expected to increase the towns’ sales tax revenues by approximately $300,000 a year.
Ballot issue 2C was passed by a similar margin, with 166 votes in favor and 53 votes against. Ballot question 2C asked Mt. Crested Butte voters to remove the financial restrictions on the town’s existing capital mil levy. The town has been unable to use the full 5.37 capital mil levy because of restrictions imposed by the TABOR (Taxpayers Bill of Rights) amendment. About a quarter of the property tax revenues received through the mil levy had to be returned to taxpayers via a rebate, effectively reducing the mil levy to about 3 mils.
The extra funding the town will get through the passage of this question can only be used for capital purchases and improvements. In addition to providing funds for needed repairs to the town hall and park pavilion, the de-Bruced capital mil levy funds will also be used to improve the town’s roads.
The passage of ballot issue 2B in 2008 authorized the town to draw more than $6 million in municipal bonds. With the passage of 2C the town anticipates taking out $2 million in bonds next year to completely fix the town’s aging roadways and keep them in first-class shape. The additional funds accumulated by de-Brucing the capital mil levy will be used to pay back the bonds.