Briefs Mt. Crested Butte

Town approves 2011 budget
After holding a public hearing and conducting several work sessions, the town of Mt. Crested Butte approved its 2011 budget. The general fund, for example, has an estimated beginning fund balance of $530,851, projected revenues of $2,881,670, expenditures of $2,768,761, and an ending fund balance on December 31, 2011 of $653,760.
At the public hearing, two members of the community, Jim Sharpe and Bob Goettge, asked about recent capital project fund expenditures and expressed their displeasure with the layoff of community development director Bill Racek. They also questioned the lack of inclusion of post office boxes as a line item in the town’s budget.
Sharpe cited three issues—the town’s paving and roadwork on a section of road between Winterset and Prospect, which he says per the annexation agreement, is the responsibility of Crested Butte Mountain Resort. He also was unhappy that Racek was laid off. “I’m really miffed at Bill Racek being let go,” Sharpe said. “When the property tax increase was passed it was supposed to prevent that from happening. When our taxes were raised, it was based on the idea that this wouldn’t happen.” As for post office boxes, Sharpe said, “If you can blow $200,000 for a road that we didn’t have to be paying for, why can’t we come up with a few thousand dollars for P.O. boxes?”
Goettge agreed with Sharpe’s points, and also questioned the lack of subdivision fees listed for collection in the budget. “What about Mountaineer Square North?” Goettge asked. “Karl [Trujillo, town finance director] is investigating. I suspect that we will find some of those fees have never been collected. I’d appreciate any investigation into that.”
Town manager Joe Fitzpatrick responded to Sharpe and Goettge’s concerns. He said the town is meeting with Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) regarding the road issues. “CBMR has been very cooperative and we are going to sit down and talk,” Fitzpatrick explained. He said there are some triggers built into the annexation agreement, which will spur the completion of the road to North Village. That hard trigger is 150 lot sales, and according to Fitzpatrick, the resort is approximately 20 sales away.
As for the subdivision fee question raised by Goettge, Fitzpatrick said the town and CBMR will share the PUD [Planned Unit Development] fees, and the town will collect $1,500 as part of that agreement.
Fitzpatrick said if the proposed post office boxes were to be installed, the funds for them would come from the Downtown Development Authority budget, not from the town’s general fund. Following Fitzpatrick’s responses to the public, the council passed the 2011 budget.
Businesses to meet with council in December
Mt. Crested Butte business owners and managers will have the opportunity to meet with the Town Council during a work session on Tuesday, December 7, prior to the regularly scheduled Town Council meeting. This is an opportunity to preview the coming ski season, and for businesses to air concerns, needs and challenges to the council. There are three items already on the agenda: postal boxes on the mountain, fireworks 2011, and “open discussion.”

Road construction close to completion, for this year…
According to town manager Joe Fitzpatrick, the 2010 road work project in Mt. Crested Butte is roughly 95 percent complete. Drainage work has been completed in the Gold Link subdivision and Gothic Road has been given a maintenance repair of a leveling course of asphalt plus a second thin layer of asphalt from Winterset to Prospect Drive. Anthracite was rebuilt and paved from Aspen Lane to Cinnamon Mountain Rd., Daisy Circle was rebuilt and paved, and Snowmass Rd. received extensive drainage work along with curb and gutter work, a new section of sidewalk was added, and the road was rebuilt and paved. More work is slated for 2011.

September sales tax up
September sales tax collections were $75,206, which is up $12,706 above the 2010 budget, or a 20.3 percent increase. Lodging and retail numbers were up, while restaurants and “other” experienced a decrease. When comparing the months of June, July, August and September 2010 against 2009, the town is tracking an increase of 5.3 percent or $17,419 up for those months. For the year 2010, year to date sales tax collections are 5.3 percent below budget, or down $62,152.