Noticias

• New Lift Ticket Tax Proposed to Help Fund Gondola
• Telluride Foundation Launches $100k Down Payment Assistance Fund
• Mountain Village Hears from the Community

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New Lift Ticket Tax Proposed to Help Fund Gondola

The Town of Mountain Village plans to place an excise tax before voters this fall, which, if passed, would tax lift tickets at the Telluride Ski Resort to support the gondola. There would be an exemption for season pass holders.

“I think, as many people are aware, the Telluride region has a fantastic public transportation system in the form of a gondola. It is iconic and in many ways is one of the many things that makes this place special,” Mountain Village Town Manager Paul Wisor said at a Town Council meeting last week. “Unfortunately, the gondola is coming to the end of its useful life, in terms of mechanics, as well as the financing obligation that makes it run on an annual basis.”

Wisor explained that last November, the community placed three questions on the SMART ballot seeking to raise property, sales, and lodging taxes to fund the future operations of the gondola. As part of that effort, known as ballot measure 3A, regional leaders approached the ski company a year ago and formally asked them to contribute financially to the gondola’s future operations.

SMART is the San Miguel Authority for Regional Transportation.

“Telski officials worked with regional governments to impose a 4.5% fee on lift tickets, with the funds raised going toward the gondola,” Wisor said. “During that time, those representatives continually reminded the ski company that if a fee could not be agreed to and signed by the ski company by this time this year, the Town of Mountain Village would be forced to begin the procedures of adopting an ordinance to place a question on this November’s ballot to impose a lift tax on our own.”

Earlier this month, the SMART board was prepared to approve a funding agreement with Telski. However, on the day of the meeting, Chuck Horning, owner of the Telluride Ski Resort, sent a new agreement that contradicted the original. As a result, the SMART board was unable to sign either agreement.

In response, Mountain Village Town Council moved last week to impose a lift ticket tax independently.

Mountain Village Town Attorney David McConaughy walked the council through the proposal. He explained the tax would be modeled after a similar tax in Breckenridge. The proposed tax would impose a 5% tax on lift tickets during the winter season.

“It excludes season passes, which are defined as a pass that allows you to ski more than 50% of the year,” McConaughy said.

The tax would likely apply to Epic Passes as well, though Mountain Village officials said they are open to discussing the matter with Vail, which administers the Epic Pass, before final approval.

During the meeting, SMART Executive Director David Averill expressed appreciation for Mountain Village’s decision to take action.

“I don’t think any of us want to be having this conversation. The preference would be to have an amenable good faith agreement, and we just couldn’t get there,” Averill said. “I applaud town staff and the Town Council for taking this up because it is a big hanging thread on financing a new gondola. The 3A does not provide for a new gondola. It provides for operations and a portion of a new gondola, but we are definitely short on the capital stack. So, I see a mechanism such as this as an amazing bonding mechanism for us to really make some headway on that.”

Mountain Village Mayor Marti Prohaska expressed frustration with Horning and Telski leadership for not supporting the community’s efforts to secure a new gondola system.

“We are only put in this place for one reason, and we are only put in this place for one person, and that is the unreliable partner we have who is running the ski resort,” Prohaska said. “I think the chaos he has created is negligence at best, but disruption at its very worst. We are not an entity that is going to deal with disruption any longer. We are taking our future into our own hands, and this is another step to ensure that what we have promised our community, and what is best for our community, actually gets done.”

In a statement to KOTO News, Horning responded: “The idea of replacing the Gondola with another tax on folks here is troublesome. Of course, the Gondola is great and a replacement sounds like a good idea, but would be a huge and expensive challenge.”

Horning continued, saying his goal is to “run our business well and stay out of politics” while focusing on “our employees, and alleviating the economic strain of living and thriving here.”

Mountain Village Town Council unanimously approved the ordinance on first reading. The council will vote on second reading in April. If it passes, the question of imposing a lift ticket tax will be placed before voters in November.

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Telluride Foundation Launches $100k Down Payment Assistance Fund

With an average home price of $1.5 million in San Miguel County, barriers to home ownership are significant for those earning the median household income of $80,000 a year in the county. With the help of the Telluride Foundation and local governments, buying a home in the region just became a little bit easier.

Starting at the end of the month, a new down payment assistance program will offer up to $100,000 for a down payment in the Telluride Foundation’s service area, which includes Rico, the West End, Telluride, Ridgway and Ouray.

Elaine Demas joined the San Miguel County Commissioners meeting on Wednesday, March 26, to finalize an agreement with the county.

“We determined with some help from leadership with the county and Town of Mountain Village and Telluride that it would be great if the Telluride Foundation could do more,” Demas said. “So after about six to eight months of research, we decided to zero in on a much larger and robust program that would provide up to $100,000 in down payment assistance to qualified families.”

Demas explained that the Telluride Foundation, in partnership with the Trust for Community Housing, has provided up to $5,000 in forgivable loan assistance for last-mile housing costs. A little under $300,000 has been deployed under that program since 2019.

The new program pairs local government contributions with private donations for a revolving loan fund.

“They are designed as a shared appreciation loan, so the applicant, the borrower, pays nothing—the principal interest—for the life of the loan until the homeowner sells or refinances the home,” Demas said. “And they pay us back, they pay the fund back, and the principal of the loan as well as a pro-rata portion of the appreciation of the home.”

Demas noted that this program can be combined with other housing assistance programs, such as the “Your Equity Support Program” in the Town of Mountain Village.

“The home that will qualify for this program must be deed restricted,” Demas said. “So if you find a free-market home in Norwood, and it’s under the $850,000 limit—which is the limit we have set—and it’s not deed restricted, we would have to find some mechanism to deed restrict that house in order for us to provide this down payment assistance.”

San Miguel County agreed to contribute $200,000 in 2025 and $100,000 in 2026 for program applicants in the county. Demas said they’ve hit their fundraising goal for this year.

“We completed our fundraising in February,” Demas said. “We set an internal goal of $1.4 million for the first year, and we met that goal in February. We are now dotting our I’s and crossing our T’s. We have a bunch of families in the queue waiting for this to be launched, and it hopefully will be launched by the end of the month.”

While verbally agreed upon, the Town of Telluride is set to vote next Tuesday on contributing $100,000. Commissioner Anne Brown advocated for local governments to join the cause.

“The reason that I think it’s so important that the Town of Telluride participate is we need to give this a shot, and we need to give it the best shot possible,” Brown said. “I’m so grateful that the foundation, as a community partner, has offered to help our community in this way. Bringing in over a million dollars in resources for the program, where we’ve only had to participate at the level of $100,000 and $200,000—I’m really grateful for that.

“I also see this as an equity program,” Brown continued. “We have people who cruise into Telluride with a down payment, then we have people who don’t, and those are the people who are getting left behind. And I love the fact that this is such a significant leg up for anyone who needs it. It’s not just $5,000—it’s up to $100,000, which can really have an impact.”

Demas said the Telluride Foundation already has families lined up to apply. While this is the first program of its kind in the Telluride region, similar revolving loan funds exist in Summit County and the Roaring Fork Valley.

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Mountain Village Hears from the Community

The majority of people are satisfied living in Mountain Village, according to a community survey administered earlier this year.

“We started out asking people to rate on a scale of 0 to 10 their level of satisfaction living or working in Mountain Village, and it was above a 7 for both,” said Gracia Seeley, a consultant with Denver-based Corona Insights, which helped conduct the survey. Seeley provided highlights from the survey at a Mountain Village Town Council meeting last week.

“People appreciate the beauty of the town, the walkability, and the easy access,” she added.

However, Seeley noted there are some differences based on demographics. Renters, younger residents, and full-time residents rated their satisfaction lower than homeowners, older residents, and part-time residents.

Mountain Village conducted the survey in early 2025, receiving 365 responses. Forty-four percent of the responses came from part-time residents, 31% from full-time residents, and the remainder from business owners. The survey was offered in both English and Spanish, although no Spanish responses were collected.

When it comes to important issues for the community, Seeley highlighted the high cost of living. More than half of respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the availability of affordable housing in the region.

“When we asked people what is the thing that needs the most improvement in Mountain Village, 15% said cost in general,” Seeley said. “People care about maintaining affordable dining and retail options within the town.”

Seeley also discussed the reasons why people choose to dine and shop in or outside of Mountain Village. The majority said they frequented businesses in Mountain Village for the convenience, but they often went outside the town for better prices, selection, and product quality.

The survey also revealed that the natural environment is a key concern for the community.

“People care a lot about protecting the natural environment, including open space and natural habitats,” Seeley said. “Also, a lot of people are very cognizant of the fact that the health of the natural environment is really tied in with the health of Mountain Village’s economy. In general, when people are asked, ‘What is the greatest thing about Mountain Village?’ a lot of people are citing the beauty and the scenery.”

Finally, the survey asked respondents about their perception of the relationship between the Telluride Ski and Golf Resort (Telski) and the community.

“Most people said that relationship needs improvement,” Seeley said. “People are very happy with the on-mountain experience at Telluride and the off-mountain experience within Mountain Village, but people do feel the relationship between the owners, the leadership, and the community could use some work.”

When asked how Telski could build a better relationship with the community, respondents suggested improving amenities (such as dining, lift operations, and parking), offering cheaper ski passes, and prioritizing locals or employees.

Other topics covered in the survey included development, fire mitigation and protection, transportation, housing, and community characteristics.

Mountain Village staff has shared the results of the survey with each department, and the information will help guide future decision-making.

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Rockfall Mitigation Begins on Camp Bird Road in Ouray

The first phase of rockfall mitigation work begins this week in Ouray along Camp Bird Road. Since early March, Camp Bird Road has been closed due to a significant rockfall event that blocked and damaged retention walls along the steep mountain road.

Ouray County Road and Bridge, along with mitigation experts and helicopter contractors, are working to secure the area of rockfall hazards to begin repairs to the road itself.

Road closures along Camp Bird Road will continue until work is completed. This includes periodic larger closures, including some ice climbing areas, for active blasting work.

.Notice of blasting will occur at least 72 hours before commencement via county and local media channels.

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Wilkinson Public Library Names New Director

The Wilkinson Public Library has announced its new library director following the retirement of Sarah Landeryou, who has served for 18 years.

After a nationwide search, the board of directors selected Peggy Parrish. Parrish has served as the Library Director at the Leander Public Library in Texas since 2020 and has a long career in library services, starting as a shelver in Michigan libraries.

Parrish arrives in late April and said she is “thrilled to get settled in Telluride and become part of the community.”

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Colorado House Approves Gun Regulation Bill

After another grueling day of debate, the Colorado House gave final approval on Monday to a bill that would ban most rifles with detachable magazines.

The measure, which has been in the works since the beginning of this year’s legislative session, has been amended nearly three dozen times.

Berthoud Republican Ryan Armagost criticized the bill’s lengthy debate, saying, “We’ve spent, I can calculate now, over 100 hours just on this bill alone. Working hours on this bill alone, through both chambers. There’s so many things in legislation we could’ve done, rather than this bill.”

The Senate still needs to sign off on amendments made by House lawmakers before the measure can go to Governor Jared Polis’s desk.

The latest version of the bill would ban the sale and manufacture of rifles with detachable magazines unless a person has a special permit. A few dozen firearms popular with hunters would be exempt. However, gun sellers say it could make much of their stock illegal and potentially force them to close.

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Concerns Grow Over Mining on Public Lands

The Trump administration is directing the Department of the Interior to ramp up mining operations on federal public lands.

However, as Rocky Mountain Community Radio’s Caroline Llanes reports, conservation advocates are concerned about the lack of transparency surrounding the mining projects and the absence of public input.

Story begins at 15:53

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Concerns Grow Over ICE’s Use of Private Contractors

When Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detains someone, the agency is legally required to provide certain services, including food, shelter, and medical and mental health care.

Now, as President Donald Trump pressures the agency to bring more undocumented immigrants into custody, ICE needs private contractors to help meet those needs.

However, as Aspen Public Radio’s Halle Zander reports, many people who work closely with immigrants are concerned that these contracts could enable the agency to detain more individuals.

Story begins at 17:16