The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“Cutting the flowers is like trying to save air by holding your breath…”
The Crested Butte Town Council has set the public hearings on the proposed 2015 budget documents for the December 1 meeting. It appears there may still be some council discussion at that meeting over whether and where to cut from the parks and recreation budget to begin a more frugal period for the town’s general capital fund.
During the November 17 council meeting, council member Jim Schmidt asked if there was room to increase the rents at the Big Mine Arena and the Town Ranch.
“The rents are admittedly on the low end but they are different from the mountain sites people might rent for say a wedding,” said town finance director Lois Rozman. “Here, they have to supply their bathrooms, for example. Plus we get a lot of non-profit groups using those spaces and wanted to keep it affordable.”
Councilperson Roland Mason asked if a tiered charging system was viable.
“In the past we have talked about that and we usually hear a strong outcry from our neighbors in places like Crested Butte South and the other subdivisions, who maintain they support the town strongly through sales taxes,” Rozman said. “And that’s true. The town doesn’t take in a lot of property taxes so it would be hard to charge less for residents and not get feedback. That’s why we went with a sales tax proposal this time.”
The town had spearheaded a proposal to increase sales tax by .5 percent to raise money for capital projects. That ballot issue lost by three votes.
So at the staff’s suggestion, the council is leaning to make cuts to summer park department amenities such as the flowers on Elk Avenue. The idea is to put the amenities such as the flowers and bike racks out later in the spring and bring them in sooner in the fall. The cutback is geared to a 24 percent savings in summer seasonal costs and would also likely result in fewer flowers being displayed next summer.
“I have gotten comments that we are being penny-wise and pound-foolish,” reiterated Schmidt, who has argued against the budget cuts when more than $1.4 million sits in reserves in the capital fund alone. There is more than $3 million in the general fund reserve fund. “I’d suggest we are fine dipping into reserves instead of cutting $20,000 or $25,000,” said Schmidt.
“I agree with Jim,” said council member Shaun Matusewicz. “Cutting flowers when we have such a large reserve is foolish. It’s like saving air by holding your breath. We have massive reserves in the general and general capital funds.”
“I don’t like the idea of cutting a little here and little there and doing it half-assed,” added council member Chris Ladoulis. “If it is that critical, let’s see what we can really cut and do it.”
“These issues are why you have public hearings,” said mayor Aaron Huckstep. “The bottom line is that these are tough decisions. Reducing staff isn’t easy for the council or the staff.”
The public hearings will be held at the next council meeting.
The parks staff is still developing a concrete plan on where and how to cut the flower program to save the money.
Former councilperson Margot Levy told the council during the meeting that she didn’t think the proposed cuts were prudent.
“I don’t understand how putting out bike racks later has any sort of real fiscal impact,” Levy said. “You are allowed to move labor from the general fund where sales tax is collected to the general capital fund. You can also look closer at things like user fees but reconsider the policy of cutting quality programs.”
The council will formally adopt the budget December 1 and that will include setting the fee schedule, the tap fees and the mill levy and allocating the millions of dollars in expenditures.
Huckstep said more discussion on the specific 2015 budget and the proposed cuts was likely at the December meeting. He was also open to hearing the council discuss the bigger picture concept of how much money should be retained annually in the reserve funds. The council tentatively agreed that perhaps a broader discussion was also in order and they will schedule one for next summer before diving into the 2016 budget process. They hope Rozman can detail the need for a reserve fund and give them some perspective on the amount needed.
