Chamber pitches idea of increasing fee for businesses

CB council asking for business feedback

By Mark Reaman and Kendra Walker

While open to discuss the idea of raising or restructuring the Crested Butte business license fee as requested by the Crested Butte-Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce, town council members want to hear feedback from local businesses before taking any action. The idea of raising the fee was proposed by Chamber executive director Heather Leonard at the July 15 Crested Butte town council meeting as one way to help shore up the organization’s finances. The Crested Butte business license fee is currently $100 for any business and traditionally 75% of the fee was, for years, funneled to the Chamber. For 2024, the town council agreed to pay the Chamber $60,000 from the business license fee pool of money expected to bring in about $64,000. The town of Mt. Crested Butte allocated $67,279 from its Occupancy Fee (pillow tax) for the Chamber for 2024. 

Leonard gave both the Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte town councils an update last week of where it was heading with a new operational direction and made requests to subsidize revenues that are not meeting projected expenditures. She asked the councils to consider an increase in funding through the Crested Butte’s business license fee and Mt. Crested Butte’s Occupancy Fee. Additionally, Leonard also asked both the councils to formally support a request to the Gunnison County commissioners to increase the annual $25,000 contribution to the Chambers that comes out of Local Marketing District (LMD) funds.

The Mt. CB council seemed agreeable to the idea of letters of support especially if they came from both towns; however, the Crested Butte council was not yet ready to sign on.

Other revenue ideas included having some retail sales available at the CB visitor center or setting up a box office to sell tickets to local events and taking a cut. Leonard said retail sales could include last-minute items visitors may need, such as umbrellas or sunblock, as well as providing local artists a space to feature and sell their work. She also said some financial streamlining could be achieved by cutting hours at the visitor centers, especially in the off-seasons of spring and fall. Both town councils last fall agreed to fund the Chamber for the first three quarters of 2024 with the intention of having a report presented to see if any operational improvements were being made before they funded the fourth quarter.

Leonard said the Chamber had spent the last several months in what she described as Phase 1 of the Chamber of Commerce reimagining project. “It has been incredibly busy, and the first phase was determining if there was a role for a visitor center in the community and what that role should be,” she said. “We concluded our role is to connect and communicate and the visitor centers play an important role in this community that attracts tourists. The visitor centers also play a role in managing the visitor experience.”

Leonard said some shifts at the visitor centers include setting up digital informational kiosks at both locations, setting up “mobile visitor centers” at local events in the North Valley like Alpenglow and the Farmer’s Market, and trying to connect to groups coming to the area for things like conferences and weddings.

“We have been connecting to locals as well as visitors. We have given out a lot of backcountry poop kits at the events,” she reported. “It has been eye opening to see how we can connect with people outside of the visitor centers.”

Leonard said the Chamber is operating at a $26,600 deficit and that that is a “roadblock” to implementing some of the desired changes at the Chamber. Hence the request to the councils to support some methods of increasing revenues.

“The LMD contribution hasn’t changed in at least eight years and maybe longer,” she said. “Like everyone, our expenses are going up. We need to raise the wages of the information specialists. We are lucky to have a lot of that staff be sourced from retired people who like to talk to people but that may not always be the case. We would like to get them up to at least $20/hour. Sending people to events is also a new cost. As busy as it is, we need a second person at the Four-way Visitor Center, especially on weekends and especially if we add more retails to the location.” She also said the Chamber could use a Visitor Centers supervisor who can also handle the technological elements of the Chamber.

Leonard said she has received mixed messages of support from the county for increasing the LMD donation but wanted the towns to write formal letters of support for the idea. Gunnison Chamber of Commerce executive director Celeste Helminsky said the $25,000 LMD contribution started with the old Tourism Association when the budget was about $800,000. This year, she said, the LMD budget is more than $3.2 million. “The grant has not changed even with the revenue increase change,” she said, adding that both chambers have also gotten a lot busier in recent years.

Business fee increase?

The idea of raising the cost of an annual business license was something not taken lightly, Leonard explained. “Even if the fee doubles, which is not something I am asking for right now, it won’t fully cover the needed funding for the visitor centers,” she noted. 

She mentioned Crested Butte at one time used a tiered cost for business licenses based on the number of employees in a business. “By increasing the fee for a business license and increasing the LMD contribution, we can help stabilize the operations at the visitor centers,” she said. “The intent is to not just ask for a bucket of money but to streamline the financials. Despite some perceptions, the visitor centers do impact most of the businesses in the community, even if they are not directly related to tourism.” 

The town of Crested Butte currently has 648 active business licenses.

“It seems to me Heather has grabbed the reins to offer more engagement with the Chamber, so I am in favor of funding the Chamber for the final quarter of the year,” said councilmember Anna Fenerty. 

Both councils had held back funding for the 2024 final quarter until they saw a noticeable change in direction from the organization. Both agreed the Chamber had met its threshold and released that money.

“The idea of a tiered business license fee caught my attention,” said Fenerty. “I am interested to see how that would work.”

Town manager Dara MacDonald said the staff could provide council some historical information on the business license situation in town. 

“What feedback has been solicited from the businesses about the business license increase,” asked mayor Ian Billick.

Leonard said no official survey has yet been conducted on that topic as the Chamber officials are determining how best to conduct that.

Billick suggested the survey include varying ideas on how to reach revenue goals.

Fenerty said there is some business community concern that so many business owners live outside town and don’t have direct influence on town decisions. She suggested that perhaps some sort of “business council” could be established to provide a conduit between business owners, the Chamber and town. Leonard said that might be one way to “add value” to the Chamber and increase membership.

“For me, it comes down to the feedback from the business community,” reiterated Billick. “I would like to see if they see value for that with the Chamber. I don’t want to get in the way of the business community. I want to hear their reaction to all of this. They are the ones who will be paying for it.”

The rest of the CB council agreed with the need to see some business feedback on the proposals. Some of the council was not yet on board with support for the LMD donation as well.

Leonard said she would return to the council with more information before budget time in early fall.

Mt. CB council thoughts

As part of Mt. Crested Butte’s agreement with the Chamber, it will pay its fourth quarter funding provided the town of Crested Butte council approves their fourth quarter funding to the Chamber.

As for a funding increase, Mt. CB town manager Carlos Velado told his council it was possible. “As it currently stands, the pillow tax can support the ask of the Chamber. There would be enough to take on this increase.” 

Councilmember Roman Kolodziej asked that the 2025 agreement with the Chamber be presented this fall when the council considers next year’s budget, noting that previous Chamber agreements were often finalized last-minute. “I’m trying to get away from making quick decisions at the end of the year,” he said.

Regarding the Chamber’s request to the municipalities for increased funding, Kolodziej noted, “We see some entities that ask for a big chunk and other entities that ask for the bare minimum because that’s what they might need to scrape by. Perhaps a larger ask would be appropriate.”

“I was very conservative in the approach and felt this was an ask that was not asking too much,” said Leonard. “I do believe as the board continues to work on the budget it may increase.”