The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
CBMR air service grant depends on revenue
Back on Tuesday, September 17, the Mt. Crested Butte Town Council funded 11 grant requests for the winter season through its admissions tax grant program.
With more than $350,000 in admissions tax funds up for grabs, and more than $390,000 in requests for marketing funds from local organizations, Councilman David Clayton recommended the council consider 14 of the 15 grant applications submitted. Clayton said a grant request for Gunnison Area Restorative Practices was for operating expenses and not marketing, falling short of the criteria for a grant.
In total, the council handed out $353,138, with the biggest award going to the Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) airline program, as is customary in the winter grant cycle. An additional $7,000 will go to the Growing Winters program, which is supported by the towns of Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte to provide funding for events that bring visitors to town or keep them here longer.
This year, CBMR will get $260,000 of the $270,000 it requested to support the minimum revenue guarantee required to keep flights coming to the valley. That check won’t be cut, however, until the town is sure that enough admissions tax revenue is coming in to cover it.
The council funded eight other grants in full, including $2,000 for the Chamber of Commerce Butte Bucks program, and more than $15,000 to CBMR for an “Ultimate Snowmobiler” event scheduled for the week after the ski area closes.
The council also granted Crested Butte Lodging $25,000 for its marketing initiatives, just shy of the $28,000 they had asked for, as well as Iron Orchid’s proposed Santa Crawl, which organizer Shaun Matusewicz expects to draw hundreds of Santa-clad skiers to town. That event got $7,500 of the $9,600 Matusewicz had asked for.
The only grant requests the council rejected came from Roman Kolodziej, who presented the council with two applications—one for a distilled spirits festival and another for marketing his business, Black Tie Ski Rentals. Mayor William Buck questioned Kolodziej’s ability to pull off the proposed spirits festival, even with the support of CBMR.
Addressing Buck’s concern, Kolodziej said, “Leading up to the event, there will be numerous people I will be able to lean on to get input about running the event itself. But, it’s a matter of logistics and finding out the challenges of making sure one thing is in one place and another thing is in another place…”
Buck cut in, “That’s why I asked the question. Leaning on somebody doesn’t let you know that a particular area is going to be available. I just want to know where the structure is.”
“We’re not an event company,” Kolodziej said of Black Tie.
“I know, that’s why I’m asking,” Buck said. The council denied the request and also turned down Kolodziej’s second grant request, which was to be used to improve his business website.
The council will start its summer grant cycle again in the spring.
