The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
New taxes, more volunteers, expensive weed?
Who doesn’t love the Crested Butte parks? Most of the people who live or visit the valley utilize some element of the park system or participate in a town recreation program.
But it isn’t cheap to run and maintain the parks and recreation system and the Town Council has instructed the staff to start looking at how to put them on a more consistent and stable financial foundation.
That could include developing a regional funding approach to parks and recreation; going to the voters to ask them to approve a new property or sales tax dedicated to parks and recreation maintenance; developing a “Friends of the Park”-type volunteer program; or even slapping potential recreational marijuana sales in Crested Butte with a town excise tax.
“We could call it grass for grass,” suggested councilperson Shaun Matusewicz.
The funding issue stems from the fact that the parks department is primarily funded through the town capital fund. That fund has struggled for years to take care of the maintenance of existing capital as well as purchase additional desired capital improvements and amenities. The parks maintenance money comes from the real estate transfer tax; a majority of that RETT money goes to parks, leaving little money for other town capital needs. Throw in the fact that maintenance costs are rising while RETT is decreasing and budget chaos ensues.
Currently, the budget calls for $370,000 in expenditures to maintain existing parks and facilities. Given a backlog of wants, staff estimated that figure could easily climb to $500,000. The staff came up with four initial options to address the funding issue.
The first calls for a regional mill levy for the Crested Butte sub-district of the Gunnison Metropolitan Recreation District. That generally encompasses the upper end of the valley from Crested Butte South north. A mill levy of two mills would generate about $516,000.
The second option was to try to get Crested Butte voters to approve a mill levy increase in town. A mill levy increase of 4.5 mills would raise about $370,000.
Option three would be to increase the town sales tax. A sales tax increase of .5 percent could generate about $260,000.
The fourth suggestion was to increase program fees, which currently bring in about $130,000.
“The question has been and remains: How do we pay for and maintain the things that the community wants?” said parks and recreation director Jake Jones.
“We are looking for direction from the council,” added Crested Butte finance director Lois Rozman. “Any option will take political will on your side and lots of work on our side. So we want direction on where we should focus.”
Jones said that as far as a regional approach, representatives of places like Crested Butte South and Mt. Crested Butte participated in a town parks-and-rec master planning process four years ago. “They are aware of the issue but we haven’t had this exact discussion,” he said.
Councilperson John Wirsing recalled that at the time of the master plan development, there appeared to be some support from park users living outside of town to consider more direct help in funding the system. “I don’t think it would be a total uphill battle if we went to voters at this end of the valley,” Wirsing said.
Jones indicated that for hockey, about 60 percent of the participants were not residents of Crested Butte. He said that was probably true for most programs.
“Any of the options being discussed will have to go to the voters so a grassroots approach would be needed to get that effort going and make it successful,” noted Rozman.
While Mayor Aaron Huckstep dismissed option four (increasing program fees) as a stand-alone solution, Wirsing suggested the fees should see a regular rise to at least keep pace with inflation.
Matusewicz wanted to avoid any type of tax increase if possible. “The mission of the parks is to serve the people,” he said. “They are a highlight of the community. But even a 5 percent increase in fees can mean a lot to some.”
Jones reminded the council that no one is ever turned away from a program for financial reasons. “We offer scholarships,” he said.
“Any tax to fund maintenance would be a hard sell, whether it was a regional effort or in town,” said Councilperson Jim Schmidt. “You need to provide some cake in there or it will have a hard time flying. We should also be talking to Mt. Crested Butte, Crested Butte South, Meridian Lake, Skyland and the Met Rec District to get their feedback for a regional approach.”
“I think we should explore private funding and partnerships first,” said Matusewicz. “That has some real potential. There are examples in New York, North Carolina, California. Private groups get together and provide funding for such recreational maintenance projects.”
“The tennis court improvements here is an example of that,” added Huckstep.
“The ice rink had a lot of private and foundation help,” said Jones.
Acting town manager Bob Gillie pointed out there was no shortage of non-profit organizations in town that depended on volunteers and contributions.
“We need to explore all options before even thinking of going to the taxpayers for another tax,” insisted Matusewicz. “But we could implement a tax on marijuana sales in town.”
Huckstep wanted to at least take the first step in exploring the potential for a regional approach to parks and recreation collaboration. “We understand it won’t be easy to go to the voters but we should make the initial contacts with the other entities in the valley and ask them what they think,” said Huckstep.
“We need to see what those other entities might want as well,” said Councilperson Roland Mason. “They have tennis courts and fields that might need some help. But their answer might be no and that would be okay. It’s a question worth exploring.”
“I was leaning toward the sales tax option rather than a property tax,” stated Councilperson Glenn Michel. “Property tax hits commercial property very hard and we already ask a lot of our businesses. I’d rather look at the more equitable idea of a sales tax. We would be taking care of our parks from money generated from our town when people come here and spend money. The parks attract people here.”
“Frankly, I’m surprised at this council as being so willing to look at any tax increase,” said Matusewicz.
“That’s not a fair characterization,” responded Huckstep. “We are looking for hard solutions to hard problems. No conclusions will be realized tonight.”
“Sales tax is so variable and maintenance of town parks is so important,” said Mason to Michel’s idea. “It would be hard to rely on that variation.”
“Personally, I don’t have a lot of faith in the ‘Friends of the Parks’ volunteer idea of Shaun’s,” said Schmidt. “I’ve seen it struggle in other local organizations. But maybe we have to mix and match.”
Ultimately, the council directed Jones and Rozman to look at four primary funding options. They will reach out to other nearby entities to explore the idea of a regional funding approach; they will search for more grant and sponsorship opportunities; they will look into other places that might have a ‘Friends of the Parks’-type program; and they will sniff out the idea of an excise tax on marijuana sales.
“All the things we love cost money to keep alive,” summed up Jones. “We just have to really address that.”
