Mt. Crested Butte tax increases “restorative”

The return to Plan A

The three tax hikes that recently passed in Mt. Crested Butte enabled the town to revert to its “Plan A” five-year plan, according to Mt. Crested Butte Town Manager Joe Fitzpatrick. In November, voters approved a “de-brucing” of their property tax mil levy, okayed an increase in town sales tax to 5 percent, and renewed a 4 percent admissions tax.

The increased revenue will enable the town to move forward and allocate up to $200,000 to complete design work and construction drawings for a recreation path bridge over Gothic Road, as well as a recreation path extension from Marcellina Lane to Winterset, by the end of 2010.
The increases also restored $20,000 per year for landscaping projects, funds for replacing police cars and street sweepers, town hall repairs, rec path extensions, and repairs.
“We didn’t have seasonal employees this summer,” said Mt. Crested Butte Finance Director Karl Trujillo. “Next summer we’ll bring back four seasonal employees, plus two for the winter. If it didn’t pass, we were talking about having to cut the rec program.”
Prior to the tax hike, Mt. Crested Butte was down to 11 percent cash reserves (from an operating budget of $3.1 million), and the recent tax increase will bolster that number to 25 percent by 2014. “Our cash reserves have been at the lowest I’ve ever seen,” Trujillo said.
The added tax revenue will start pouring in January 1, 2010.