CB council 2018 budget talks

Being conservative with expected sales tax revenues…cops on electric bikes…roundabouts

By Mark Reaman

It is budget season and the Crested Butte Town Council is immersed in the long process of allocating money to keep the town running and funding their priorities. The council and staff hope to have a budget vote before the November 7 election.

At an hour-long work session on September 5, town finance director Lois Rozman led the council through the budget basics before focusing on sales tax revenue expectations.

“Obviously sales tax revenue is the lifeblood of the town and allows us to do so much that we do here,” Rozman said. “Nationally, estimates predict that this eight-year economic expansion will continue to chug along but the growth rate is expected to slow down.”

So Rozman is taking her standard conservative approach to budgeting and using a less than 1 percent increase in sales tax collection in 2018 compared to this year. She penciled in a .7 percent increase over projected 2017 revenues, for a total of $3,829,309.

In comparison, the town collected just $1.9 million in sales tax in 2010.

Rozman said the town had a “phenomenal” winter with a massive snowstorm in January attracting skiers. “Historically, consecutive heavy snow years is not the norm,” she wrote in a memo to the council. “Therefore, a conservative approach is to expect no growth in sales tax in January through March.”

Rozman kept the off-season sales tax collections the same as 2017. “Whiles the summer months seem to be pretty much at capacity, we have allowed for a 1 percent growth from 2017,” the memo states.

“We budget conservatively and we have good reserves,” said mayor Glenn Michel. “That keeps us in a strong position if there is a downturn.”

“Exactly,” said Rozman. “But we need to be realistic as we grow and more people arrive and the need for services increases.”

Councilman Jim Schmidt noted that the recent hurricane Harvey that flooded Houston could have an impact on visitors to Crested Butte from that region and thus have an impact on sales tax. “But I am not sure how much it will impact us,” he said.

The council appeared comfortable with Rozman’s sales tax estimates.

Cops on electric bikes

At a September 17 budget work session chief marshal Mike Reily explained his request for $39,000 to purchase two electric police motorcycles next year. “I think they would work really well around town,” he told the town council. “It seemed to us that they could be a good thing to use and replace some of the miles we put on the SUVs. That could delay the replacement time on the SUVs so it could save the town some money.

“It is an interesting vehicle to get around in and it would frankly be pretty fun,” Reily continued. “It also addresses the green directive the council has stated.”

Reily said riding an electric motorcycle would probably be a faster way to respond to a call on the other side of town from where an officer is located.

Roundabout spending

The town has budgeted $250,000 for work connected to designing a proposed roundabout at the entrance to town. The roundabout along with a northbound turn lane into the Crested Butte Community School parking lot coming into town is expected to bring some relief to the Red Lady Avenue-Highway 135 intersection. The expectation is that the turn lane could be constructed within two years while the roundabout, with funding from the Colorado Department of Transportation is not expected to be ready until after 2022. But with a design completed it would be “shovel ready” and more likely to see state funding.

The Town Council directed the staff to hold additional community meetings prior to commencing design work on a roundabout to solicit public comment. These meetings will be conducted after the first of the year.

Community grant discussion

A discussion about how to handle the “Community Grant” requests was also held. The town policy is to donate no more than 2.5 percent of general fund revenues. With the general fund predicted to be $4,128,740, the council could allocate $103,218 and be at the 2.5 percent cap.

Rozman pointed out that the town supports many local non-profit organizations through things like subsidizing cheap rent for their offices. As opposed to a shotgun approach, the council is trying to get all the outside funding requests to come through the Community Grant process.

Rozman pointed out that a couple of large donation requests are on the horizon, including a request from the Crested Butte Land Trust to help with the Gunsight Bridge project, a request from GCSAPP (Gunnison County Substance Abuse Prevention Program) and a request from the Gunnison Valley Regional Housing Authority to help fund energy efficiency projects throughout the valley.

“There are a lot of worthy causes. As a local government, our first priority is local service,” said Michel. “These community grants are over and above our general needs.”

Councilman Chris Ladoulis said without specific dollar figures for the predicted big requests, “it might be premature to decide on an appropriate budget number yet.”

“But if we decide on a number now, it could instill some discipline on the next council,” suggested Michel.

The fall grant requests are being collected until September 29.

“With almost $104,000 available, I think all the grants should come from that number,” said Michel. “We have exceeded the cap almost every year that I have been on the council.”

“I think that is a good number to start with,” agreed Schmidt.

“The 2.5 percent makes sense and I think we should try to stick to that figure,” said councilman Roland Mason.

“That’s the intention,” concurred councilman Jackson Petito.

The next budget work session will be held October 2.