CB council on board with new committee to look at budget

Start soon but end after election…

by Mark Reaman 

The Crested Butte town council is very supportive of an idea originating with local citizens to form a budget advisory committee this fall. The citizens want to take a deep dive into the history and future of town budgets and come up with recommendations on how to make for a more balanced budget starting in 2027. The council has indicated they will appoint such a committee at its next meeting in September.

The idea began after an uproar over the vacant home tax proposed by the council earlier this summer. Councilmembers passed a resolution 5-2 Monday to take the tax idea to the voters at the November 3 election, but they agreed with the idea of forming an advisory committee to evaluate the town budget. The committee would become involved with the budget process in September and work through the budget adoption in early December before being disbanded.

The town charter requires a permanent board or commission be comprised of residents in town. The council wants this task force to possibly include second homeowners, so the idea is to make it temporary, at least for this year.

In a memo to the council from staff, it was made clear that the role of the task force would be advisory and could function as a bridge between staff, council and the public. Staff would act in a support role only and not lead the committee or set its agenda.

Citizen Caren Carroll has been leading the effort for a citizen’s committee. She told the council Monday that the goal was to provide the committee with enough scope to provide meaningful advice. “The hope in reviewing 2027 is that the committee can look at historical trends and the long-range forecast,” she said. “We trust something good is happening with this idea.”

“If you want dedicated and qualified individuals to be part of this committee, you as council need to be sure the group feels valued and listened to,” added longtime second homeowner Haden Spencer. “Take the recommendations and advice seriously.”

“A benefit of treating this as a temporary task force is that it can start sooner and include interested second homeowners,” said mayor Ian Billick. “It is moving fast and it probably won’t be perfect, so we hope everyone has some grace.”

“I would think the task force would need a lot on onboarding,” said councilmember Kent Cowherd. “It can be a lot of information.”

“I’m happy to see the formation of this committee,” said councilmember Gabi Prochaska. “I think it could be helpful in both directions.”

“It is good to be responsive to the feedback we received,” said councilmember John O’Neal. “I want good communication throughout the process.”

“It shows the town is super open to transparency and willing to open its books to the citizens,” added councilmember Mallika Magner.

“I’m a huge fan of citizen engagement,” said councilmember Kate Guibert. “I feel like town has always had an open book policy and I think this will help us reach more people in the community.”

“It’s important for the task force to be in communication with the council during the process,” said Billick. “Things don’t work if everyone is so independent there’s no communication and recommendations are suddenly sprung on a board. We also have to manage the staff load and I’m not sure how to balance that.”

Town manager Dara MacDonald said town could start advertising and soliciting potential committee members this week (see ad on page 29). The council can decide on the size of the committee and appoint the positions in early September. Town finance director Lauren Hawcroft said the first council work session on the budget is scheduled for September 21.