The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
by Alissa Johnson
Promoting winters
At its August 18 meeting, the Mt. Crested Butte Town Council awarded $423,000 in winter marketing grants to 19 applicants. Awards went to some familiar events and causes—$160,270 to Crested Butte Mountain Resort to support the local air program, $25,000 to the Mountain High Music Festival, and $10,000 to support the Ultimate Snowmobiler—but some new events made the list as well.
The council awarded $15,000 in support of a Warren Miller film segment featuring Crested Butte and fat biking; $8,500 to promote a SkiMo camp planned by Crested Butte Nordic and Griggs Orthopedics; and $30,500 to the Crested Butte-Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce for the Fat Bike World Championships, which come to the valley in January.
Collectively, the applicants asked for $590,000 in funding, requiring the council to award less than the requested amount in several instances. All 19 applicants were allotted funds.
Sales tax revenue on the up and up… and up
Sales tax collections for June were 9.4 percent above budget and 13 percent above last year. That puts Mt. Crested Butte sales tax collection 6.8 percent over last year, year to date.
Fundraising for the Biery-Witt Center
At an August 18 meeting, councilmember Gary Keiser informed the Town Council that approximately $1 million has been raised toward the final $5 million fundraising goal for the Biery-Witt Center.
“We’re pretty optimistic about it,” Keiser said. When $1.5 million has been raised, they will use a challenge match to reach $3 million at which point building design will resume.
In addition, two new members have been added to the board of directors: King Systems owner Adam Zatorski and Noelle Hagan from Western Colorado State University.
Charter Communications may buy Time Warner
The council agreed to pass a resolution consenting to allow Charter Communications to provide cable services to Mt. Crested Butte. According to town manager Joe Fitzpatrick, Charter is in negotiations to purchase Comcast, though the speed with which a purchase would take place is unclear.
Joint ballot initiative with county
The council has opted to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with Gunnison County to participate in a coordinated election this fall. The county, Mt. Crested Butte, and other municipalities will ask voters to opt out of Senate Bill 05-152, which prohibits local governments from providing broadband services. The county has agreed to pay for the cost of the election.
