The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
More money available than requested
The Mt. Crested Butte Town Council distributed almost $48,000 in summer admissions tax grants to six organizations at their meeting on Tuesday, April 2. Prior to making the awards, Councilman David Clayton said the town had collected enough admissions tax to fund all of the requests received by the town in full and could have given out the $60,000 they had awarded in previous years.
“I’m recommending that we fully fund the programs, with the exception of the Beer and Chili [Festival] because $1,000 of that was to pay the admissions tax offset, so I would move that down to $3,500,” Clayton said.
The town tacks a 4 percent tax onto event ticket sales on the mountain, like lift and concert tickets. That money goes into a fund, 25 percent of which is used to pay for transportation operations. The rest goes to marketing events that will bring people and money to the mountain.
This year the town’s marquee summer events, the Crested Butte Music Festival and Bluegrass in Paradise, received the $25,000 sponsorship they had requested from the town. Those funds will put the Mt. Crested Butte name on marketing material being sent around the country.
Crested Butte Lodging asked for and got $10,100 to continue marketing and getting market data from the Internet firm Leadify, as well as maintaining and growing their presence on Facebook and elsewhere. Part of the grant would also help Crested Butte Lodging offset the cost of partnering with the Crested Butte Music Festival, Adaptive Sports Center and other local groups, which use a number of donated rooms each year for events.
This year the Adaptive Sports Center of Crested Butte asked the town for $3,000 to improve its online and printed marketing material, and to expand its outreach to New York and California and in new places around Colorado. The long-time local organization works to “enhance the quality of life of people with disabilities through high-quality outdoor adventure activities.”
The Crested Butte-Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce’s Mt. Crested Butte Chili and Beer Festival asked for $4,500, including an additional $1,000 to roughly cover the amount of admissions tax they would have to pay from their proceeds. “In 2012 we paid $1,098.33 for this tax, essentially giving almost one third of the money we were granted back,” the group’s grant request reads this year.
Councilman David Clayton said, “I personally find that a little bit abhorrent that an organization would say ‘We want you to pay our admission tax payment for us.’ And I don’t think it matters if it’s for a non-profit organization or a for profit business—if there’s an event in Mt. Crested Butte, admissions tax needs to be paid.”
However, other than the additional $1,000 requested to cover the admissions tax, the council agreed to fund the Chili and Beer Festival’s entire request.
The Trailhead Children’s Museum asked for $3,435 in general marketing support after seeing nearly 10,000 kids come through the doors in 2012, when the organization collected $3,257 in admissions tax for the town. “With improved marketing and marketing support, the expanded art and science summer programs and expansion of exhibits, the Trailhead looks to continue growing revenues and its contribution to the admissions tax fund of 2013,” the request said.
Taste of Crested Butte, formerly Crested Butte Restaurant Week, requested a $2,500 grant to help the Crested Butte-Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce embark on a direct mail campaign and to create a branded incentive card directed to patrons of the events, and which would enable the organizers to track the patrons’ use habits.
All together the town awarded $47,535. Applications for the winter 2013-14 admissions grant cycle will be available in late summer.
