The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Starting to worry about the fall and winter
By Mark Reaman
While lowering his estimate of the potential hit the town may take from decreased sales tax revenue in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Crested Butte finance director Rob Zillioux strongly warned the council against spending more money than they agreed to earlier this year.
He is now estimating town sales tax revenue will likely come in a below budget by between $1 million and $1.2 million. He again said the town’s strong financial reserve position has put it in good shape, but to begin spending those reserves on discretionary items could be a major mistake in the long run.
“Given recent spikes in COVID-19 cases, particularly in states such as Texas, we should begin considering the possibility that CBMR [Crested Butte Mountain Resort] may open on a limited basis, or not at all, this winter. Should this scenario occur, town will need to rely on reserves for many months to come,” Zillioux wrote in a memo to the council.
At various times in the July 6 council meeting, council members suggested looking into spending funds on changing rooms for Big Mine Arena; more trash maintenance, especially on the weekends; and more planter boxes to possibly be used to calm traffic on side streets.
Zillioux reported that May sales tax revenue was down just 9 percent and so far the town is off about 15 percent in sales tax revenue for the year. Grocery sales are actually up compared to last year, while bars and restaurants are taking the biggest hits. He noted that retail sales seemed to be climbing a bit and he hoped people were “shopping locally.”
“The pandemic continues to be problematic,” Zillioux said, “particularly in places like Texas, so things could change quickly.”
He said that while staff budget cuts and delays in capital purchases have also helped keep the town financially stable, there have been obvious tradeoffs. Council said one tradeoff that needed to be addressed was the lack of trash pick-up in town. Zillioux said that aside from the dumpster located at the Four-way Stop by the Visitors Center, he hasn’t seen much of a major problem.
“The Four-way [dumpster] is getting pounded as people come in from camping and they drop off their trash,” he admitted. “When we saw it was overflowing last week we had Waste Management come and empty it.”
Town manager Dara MacDonald said last summer the dumpster was emptied twice a week, on Fridays and Mondays, and that seemed to be enough. She said it would be emptied three times a week this summer because of the volume of trash being deposited in it.
As for the trashcans on Elk Avenue and in the town parks, town Parks and Rec director Janna Hansen said staff cuts limit their emptying. Without a summer park crew, there is no dedicated staff member to monitor trashcans on the weekends. She said her full-time crew came in for the weekend of July Fourth to help keep trash under control.
“It seems we need to increase it over the weekends,” said council member Will Dujardin. “That is seeing heavy traffic. We might need to move hours around or hire another person for the weekends. If we had known the cuts we approved in the spring eliminated some the trash pick-up I think we would have tried to address it back then.”
“I agree we have to address the weekend situations,” said council member Mallika Magner. “I think the trash issue might exacerbate what some people see as the negatives with the reconfigured Elk Avenue.”
Zillioux said he wasn’t aware of trash overflowing from the town’s Elk Avenue trashcans. “Is it just at the Four-way Stop where people coming out of all the drainages from camping are dropping their garbage?”
“It seems more people are using disposable items like plastic forks and napkins and that may be adding to it on Elk,” said Magner.
MacDonald said if such disposable items were coming from a restaurant, it was the restaurant’s obligation to provide a trashcan. “Aside from the Four-way, I haven’t heard of trash overflowing on Elk. But we can hire people for the weekend if the council wants that.”
“We can’t have our constituents asking us why it’s not being done,” said Dujardin. “That sticks with people. It seems the council is in agreement that staff needs to figure out how to remove trash on the weekends.”
Hansen explained that Waste Management was responsible for emptying the solar compactor trashcans on Elk, while the town was responsible for the brown bear-proof cans. “But we will empty anything that is overflowing,” she assured the council.
Council approved a motion to adjust the previously approved budget cuts to hire people to empty trash on the weekends.
“I can’t help but note the serious situation we are in with the valley,” reiterated Zillioux. “If Western [Colorado University] doesn’t bring students back to campus, if CBMR may not open, we will be in trouble. We need to be very careful with spending. For example, with the hockey changing rooms, can WEHA [the West Elk Hockey Association] be responsible for cleaning them at night? We don’t have the staff and it has to be done. I feel I have to bring up such concerns.”
Council will consider the bids that come in to construct the hockey changing rooms this summer at the July 20 meeting. At least four companies have expressed interest and the deadline to submit a bid is July 9. Magner said the council has not made the final decision to spend that money.
Magner thanked Zillioux “for bringing that to the forefront. We are in a difficult situation and we need to scrutinize discretionary spending.”
