Briefs Mt. Crested Butte

Town offices open after construction
With the Recreation Path extension project nearly complete in Mt. Crested Butte, the front doors to Town Hall were finally opened again. The nearly year-long project to widen Gothic Road in front of Town Hall to accommodate the Rec Path required a major overhaul of the utilities that led to a new surface on the parking lot and a reinforced retaining wall between the building and the road.

Some work still needs to be done this summer, with paving to be patched up in a few places and sets of metal stairs to be installed between the parking lot at Town Hall and the garden down the hill, as well as up to the Recreation Path.

Fireworks for the fun of it
A fire ban for the Fourth of July nixed the holiday fireworks show in Mt. Crested Butte, saving the town some money, at least temporarily. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be a show, even though the Town Council had some mixed feelings about blowing up $7,000 for the fun of it.
Councilman David O’Reilly pointed out the savings from the cancelled fireworks order in the town’s finance report and said, “I would have to say I would be in favor of saving the $7,000 in case we’re short some places. I think we did the right thing because of the threat of fire. But it’d be bad advertising for us to spend $7,000 on fireworks, unless they’re already here.”
Mayor William Buck noted opportunities throughout the year for a fireworks show, like the finish of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge or opening day of the ski season.
“I’d have to be convinced at this point in time as opposed to just sitting them out here in the driveway and shooting them off,” O’Reilly quipped.
Buck responded, “I don’t think that’d be the case.”
The council will discuss the possibility of a fireworks show in the future as opportunities arise.

Sales tax drops in May
May is never a game-changing month when it comes to generating revenue in Mt. Crested Butte, or in any part of the Gunnison Valley, but this spring season wasn’t even as good as expected for businesses on the mountain. Sales tax collections for the month came in just under $32,000, almost 1 percent below what the town had budgeted. Through May, the town was 6.7 percent below budget for the year and 9.4 percent below what had been collected in the same period last year.
Compared to the last several years, however, this May falls right in the middle with collections coming in 27 percent above 2009 and almost 25 percent below 2010. And despite the overall drop in revenue raised by businesses, lodging establishments saw their business increase more than 100 percent and restaurant sales nearly tripled. Unfortunately, they made up a relatively small part of the town’s overall take for the month.
“We’re spending less and still coming up with savings in a few places. Right now we’re still going to be okay,” Mt. Crested Butte Town Manager Joe Fitzpatrick said. “I have no idea what sales tax is going to be for June, July or August. But there are a lot of cars in the parking lot and I’m excited to see that.”

Bluegrass in Paradise brings record crowd to town, campground
Mt. Crested Butte hosted a record crowd in its 17-acre campground on the north side of town, with around 60 tents pitched for the event July 14-15. “The biggest complaint was that there’s no flat ground. And if you come in there at night, it’s pretty hard to find a flat spot,” Fitzpatrick said. “But we’re looking at ways of improving that … and the views are perfect.”
Bluegrass in Paradise had a banner year, seeing the ticket buying crowd surge 31 percent over last year.
That kind of growth has been good for one of the town’s newest amenities. During the festival last year, Mountain Express buses carried 207 people from the campground to the base area during the weekend. This year the number more than doubled to 483 passengers.
“That’s a fantastic increase and I think this event is going to continue to grow exponentially into the future,” Fitzpatrick said. “I’m very optimistic.”

Beer and Chili Fest gets admissions tax grant
The Crested Butte-Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce pulled out the big guns for its admissions tax grant request for the Fall Festival of Beer and Chili, set to take place in September. Shaun Matusewicz, Crested Butte town councilman and owner of Iron Orchid Events, attended the meeting on the chamber’s behalf to make the request in person.
Matusewicz told the council the $3,500 grant, if awarded, would go to market the festival in the Denver Metro and Boulder areas. “We see this event as a marquee event that could really grow and we’d like to take these funds for very specific reasons to help us take this event and grow it and make this year a little bit better.”
In awarding the grant, the town will get a gold sponsor status, meaning they will get VIP treatment and their name and logo all around the event.
“Not only am I asking you guys to support these specific [marketing] items, but also the idea of growing this event and the larger vision behind these costs,” he said.
The council approved the grant request for $3,500.

Town to take over local liquor license responsibilities from county
The town of Mt. Crested Butte reviewed an intergovernmental agreement regarding the administration of liquor licenses inside the Crested Butte Mountain Resort boundary. Currently the responsibility of issuing liquor licenses on what is officially U.S. Forest Service property falls to the County.
Crested Butte Mountain Resort, which holds the liquor license for the ski area, wants to consolidate the various licenses that are required for its many drinking establishments into one Resort Complex license, which is allowed by state law. The change will let the resort buy alcohol in bulk and move it around the resort without fear of violating liquor laws. It will also let Mt. Crested Butte administer and enforce the license. However no further action has been taken on the agreement.

CO detectors soon to be required in homes
Community development coordinator Carlos Velado recommended the council include language in their version of the International Building Codes to require carbon monoxide detectors outside sleeping rooms, and inside sleeping rooms with gas-fired heaters or fireplaces inside.
Velado told the council the change is a response to a situation commonly found in town, in which people are sleeping with a device nearby that could produce carbon monoxide. The requirement would be enforced in any real estate transfer.
“New construction is one thing, but we should let the public know about this. That could be a significant expense for some people trying to buy or sell a house if they didn’t know about it,” Councilman Gary Keiser said.

Fund balances continue to rise
Town of Mt. Crested Butte Finance Director Karl Trujillo gave the council some good news at a meeting on Tuesday, June 5, reporting a $425,000 increase in the fund balance last year. The town now has $904,000 set aside, or about 34 percent of its yearly expenses. The goal is to get to a 50 percent fund balance.
“We definitely took off a big chunk this past year,” Trujillo said.
The Mt. Crested Butte Downtown Development Authority is also building up a sizeable fund balance, with more than $1 million saved up just as the funding for the DDA falls with property values in town.
The admissions tax fund, which is fed through event ticket sales in the town of Mt. Crested Butte, accrued a fund balance of $253,000 last year. The housing fund has $357,000 in it.