The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Services would not change, just the revenue source
By Adam Broderick
The Crested Butte South Metropolitan District is requesting additional funding from residents in Crested Butte South beginning this January to offset road maintenance expenses. The district says the plan is to finance the shortfall in funds necessary to continue the operation and maintenance of the district’s roads, and estimates proposing a monthly fee of $14 per residential unit and $28 per commercial unit that is expected to raise about $90,000.
Owners of vacant land would not be charged because they don’t drive the roads as often as residents and the district feels it would be most fair to charge people who actually live in the neighborhood. Ronnie Benson, head of operations for the district, says fees collected would go toward road maintenance only, not new construction, to shift road maintenance expenses into their own enterprise fund to help offset shortfalls in the general fund.
The district has covered all road maintenance expenses in the past—snow plowing, asphalt, gravel, mag chloride, equipment maintenance, etc.—but Benson says it has cost around $100,000 per year and has been a major drain without having its own revenue source.
He says services provided by the district would not change; they’re just looking for a way to fund the services. Road maintenance consumes about 42 percent of the total tax revenue generated with the current mill levy, which this year is restricted to right around $244,000.
According to a notice presented to county commissioners on Tuesday, November 17, a public hearing will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, December 9 at the district’s office at 280 Cement Creek Road in Crested Butte South. The district’s financing plan is also available for review at the office.
The district could have gone straight to a public hearing without discussing the fee proposal with county commissioners, but Benson says they want to remain as transparent and diligent as possible and give people the opportunity to voice their concerns.
“It’s setting us up for a lot of grief, but we want to keep everything out in the open. We feel the responsibility to our constituents. Hopefully the public will realize we’ve done a lot to explore all options before going this fee route. We don’t want to do this fee, but we get comment after comment about how well we take care of the roads and we want to continue that service,” Benson said.
