The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Cut services? More partnerships? No cut in employee benefits?
A consistently declining revenue stream in the town of Crested Butte has the Town Council on high alert. During a work session on Monday, July 6, members of the council expressed concern over the upcoming 2010 budget. The council indicated that in a financial crisis, staff layoffs and cutbacks in salaries and benefits would be the last cuts to be considered. The council did say new ways of providing community services should be explored and services provided by the municipality could be rolled back if the budget gets tighter.
In that vein, town sales tax continued its decline in May. Revenues for the month were off 9 percent. That makes the town off almost 13 percent for the year. Sales tax is a major contributor to the town’s general fund, which covers a lot of the town’s operating costs. On the capital side, the Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT) is the largest contributor. There have been two goose eggs in the first six months of the year. April and June saw zero real estate transfer tax for the town and so far in 2009, just $184,770 has been collected from RETT. More than $511,000 was garnered through the RETT in the first six months of 2008.
“It’s not going to be a pleasant 2010 budget,” explained Crested Butte finance director Lois Rozman.
“We have to look at everything,” added town manager Susan Parker. “Service levels, personnel, benefits, everything,” she said.
Mayor Alan Bernholtz admitted it was a tough time. “The reality is we don’t have much of an option for a council ‘wish list’ this year,” he said. “Overall, I think people have gotten used to a level of service the last three or four years that we might not be able to maintain, given the economy.”
Council member Skip Berkshire said there was still room to move. “We have options,” he said. “There are things we can do, but they have to be thoughtful.”
Rozman admitted that some levels of service may see cuts if the money isn’t there to fund it. “We were able to hang in there in 2009 because we had very good fund balances. But you can’t ride that forever,” she said.
“Most of the budget is the meat-and-potatoes stuff,” said Bernholtz. “There’s not a lot of fluff but maybe the level of service that the community has come to expect might be cut back. Maybe there are fewer flowers on Elk Avenue. Maybe instead of plowing the streets when there is six inches of snow on the road, we have to wait until there is eight inches of snow.”
Councilperson Billy Rankin agreed with Bernholtz. “We have to look at everything,” he said. “Labor, employee benefits, spots to trim.”
Parker said the staff has been exemplary at finding places to trim during the last two years.
Council member Dan Escalante said being thoughtful was important during the budget process. “I hope we can put enough thought into this that we don’t just get rid of the flowers on Elk Avenue, for example, to save some money,” he said. “Let’s think outside the box. Maybe we get a local business to sponsor a flower box, for example. We need to look at different ways of approaching things.”
Council member Kimberly Metsch suggested that when it was time to renew leases with organizations using town spaces, more money could come into the town coffers.
Rankin said the outreach by the Center for the Arts to hold Alpenglow concerts this summer was a good example. “We may need to go to the community more,” he said.
“I would hope we could look at this as an opportunity to look at our processes and how we do business,” said Berkshire. “We can find smarter ways to do things cheaper. I hope we will find ways to be more efficient and not just cut, cut, cut.”
“Hey, California never thought it would get as bad as it did,” countered Bernholtz. “The Crested Butte staff has been very fiscally responsible. But what if it doesn’t end for another five years? When times are tough, can we cut services and still have a high quality of life? I’m concerned the level of service people expect here has increased past a point we can afford. A stitch in time can save nine, you know. We need to face the reality of our economy so we don’t go down the drain later. Should we go to a 1999 level of service? Life was good then. Do we need to maintain the current level? I agree with Dan and Skip in that we need to create better partnerships and not have the entire burden fall on town government.”
Rankin put out a plea to the public to get involved in the budget process and let the council know what priorities are important.
Councilperson Leah Williams echoed that thought. “We all need to look at changing the way we do things. The community needs to be aware of the hard decisions we’ll be making,” she said. “The community needs to step up and let us know what they want.”
Bernholtz was confident the public would step up. “People understand what’s happening in the global economy and we’re somehow connected to the globe.”
Escalante was “bummed that certain things we don’t even have yet—recycling on Elk Avenue, for example—might be out of the mix. When will something like that come?”
Rozman said she was looking for creative ways to finance Elk Avenue recycling.
Parks and Recreation director Jake Jones reminded the council that partnering with outside organizations could entail new costs. “I’d be a little wary of thinking public-private partnerships will solve everything. We need to be realistic and admit that a cut in money will probably result in some services being decreased,” he said.
Berkshire didn’t like that. “That’s not the right attitude,” he barked. “That perception might be spot-on but it is a wrong-minded approach. Look internally and honestly at other ways to do something. That’s how things get improved. You can’t close your mind.”
“That’s not my intention, but I don’t see magic partnerships that will keep everything the same,” responded Jones.
Chief marshal Tom Martin told the council that Parker had made all the department heads aware that cuts could be coming.
Parker said the staff has worked toward concrete changes already and cited the example of changing the annual town clean-up from a $10,000 entitlement program to a “better partnership” with the community.
Berkshire also warned “not to cut off our nose to spite our face. A lot of things we do bring people to town and those people supply the sales tax,” he said. “We have to strike a balance.”
Martin confirmed that by saying he received a lot of positive comments from participants in the recent Bicycle Tour of Colorado who spent a few nights in Crested Butte. “People just love this community,” he said.
Bernholtz ended the discussion again saying service levels might have to be sacrificed. He also said he didn’t want the town staff to take the hit. “I want to avoid cutting staff or their benefits and wages. Three or four years ago when the employees could have gone into the private sector and probably made a lot more money, they stayed with the town,” he said. “They stuck it out. I’m not ready to start chopping salaries and benefits now. We appreciate what they do.”
The rest of the council appeared to agree with that sentiment. It promises to be an interesting budget discussion this fall. The council’s next step is to schedule a retreat to concentrate on the budget.
