Voters in an agreeable mood
1A, 5A, Mt. CB measures all pass
Times Staff Writer
Originally published 2009-11-05



A slew of local ballot initiatives aimed at everything from energy efficient building and local marketing to shoring up Mt. Crested Butte’s financial woes all passed with flying colors in Tuesday’s election.

Ballot measure 5A — permanently instating the Gunnison County Local Marketing District (LMD) — received the strongest support in Gunnison County, garnering more than 77 percent of the vote.

The specific, 4 percent sales tax is paid on overnight lodging in the county. LMD revenues fund year-round marketing of the area to outsiders by the Gunnison-Crested Butte Tourism Association (TA) — a non-profit corporation. The LMD was enacted by voters in 2002 on a trial basis, alongside the Gunnison Valley Rural Transportation Authority.

TA Executive Director Jane Chaney said she’s simply glad that voters recognize the importance of tourism to the local economy.

She’s mentioned the possibility of bolstering local marketing efforts by bringing on a sales manager to accompany the TA’s two current, full-time employees, including herself.

“As (LMD) revenues start to stabilize and grow, that’s something we want to do,” Chaney said. “The more success that the Tourism Association sees, the more we can market the area.”

The effort to authorize the sale of bonds for funding energy efficiency and weatherization improvements — ballot measure 1A — passed with nearly 61 percent of the vote.

Advocates have hailed the Energy Smart Program as a way to create local construction-related jobs, reduce the county’s “Carbon Footprint” and keep more money in local pockets by offering financing for energy efficiency building improvements to those who might not otherwise be able to find funding.

What’s next?

Andris Zobs, Office for Resource Efficiency building director and 1A campaign manager, said county government can now begin exploring a few options — such as possibly partnering with other counties to administer a loan program.

“Unless they want to, they won’t need to design the program, as much as they will select the one that works best for them,” he explained.

Boulder County was the first in Colorado to launch an Energy Smart-like program this past summer. Concern has been raised about high administrative costs and fees associated with their first round of loans distributed, though they were expected to be much lower for subsequent loans.

“They were the first ones out, so they provided a lot of positive and negative lessons for us to learn from,” Zobs added of Boulder’s experiences. “One is transparency and accountability when these bonds are issued.”

The Town of Mt. Crested Butte found success in its second attempt in two years at addressing financial shortfalls via a proposed tax increase.

All three of the town’s ballot questions this year proved favorable among the majority of voters.

Measure 2A — which increases the town’s sales tax from 4 to 5 percent — passed with nearly 77 percent of the vote.

The effort to re-instate the town’s 4 percent admissions tax — a sales tax, paid mainly on lift tickets — received nearly 91 percent of the vote.

The town also successfully “de-Bruced” its capital mill levy with the passage of measure 2C. It passed with nearly 76 percent of the vote and will allow the town’s capital mill levy to increase from 3.091 to 5.37 mills.

With the passage of the three questions, the town will be able to restore cuts that were made this year (including seasonal workers, landscaping, repairs, weed control and donations); continue funding public transportation, marketing and events through the admissions tax; and bond $2 million for deferred road maintenance.

The town currently funds 10 percent of the Mountain Express transportation system’s budget with revenues from the admissions tax, said Town Manager Joe Fitzpatrick.

Last fall, the town asked voters to reauthorize a .5 percent sales tax that was sunsetting. The measure failed — decreasing the town’s total sales tax collection this year to 4 percent — as did an effort to increase property tax last year.

Had the sales tax increase not passed this year, it would have meant a decrease in services now provided, said Fitzpatrick, “because the sales tax number has been decreasing and we haven’t been able to keep up services without increasing that fund.”

In the Town of Crested Butte, John Wirsing, Roland Mason, Jim Schmidt and Phoebe Wilson were elected to the four open council seats. However, there’s currently a tie between two of those individuals (Mason and Wilson, both with 317 votes), according to preliminary results tallied as of late Tuesday.

If it’s still a tie after any remaining untallied ballots are counted and results are made official, or if the count is closer than one-half of 1 percent, an automatic recount is required, said Town Clerk Eileen Hughes. If, by chance, the two candidates’ votes are still tied, a random tie-breaker will be used to determine who will serve a four-year term and who will serve a two-year term, Hughes explained.

Wirsing and Schmidt will each serve four-year terms. Leah Williams, who ran unopposed, will serve a two-year term as mayor.

Gunnison County Clerk Stella Dominguez reported that 36 percent of total registered active voters cast ballots in this fall’s mail-only election.

 

(Will Shoemaker can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or will@gunnisontimes.com)