Noticias

• Mountain Village Moves Lift Ticket Tax to the Ballot
• San Miguel County Considers Housing Mitigation Fee Update
• Telluride Visits Camp Happy Sunshine

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Mountain Village Moves Lift Ticket Tax to the Ballot

Voters in Mountain Village will decide in June whether to place an excise tax on lift tickets at the Telluride Ski Resort to help support funding for the gondola.

The proposed tax comes after negotiations between the San Miguel Authority for Regional Transportation and Telski regarding a financial contribution for the gondola stalled.

According to Mountain Village Town Attorney David McConaughy, the language of the tax is taken directly from a similar tax in Breckenridge and would impose a 5% tax on lift tickets at Telski during the winter season. There would be an exemption for season pass purchases.

McConaughy emphasized the 5% tax is the limit.

“Right now the proposed ballot question says 5%. If the voters approve that, you could have this ordinance say 5, or you could amend it to say 2, or anything between zero and 5. You just can’t do more than the voters approve,” McConaughy said.

McConaughy spoke at a Mountain Village Town Council meeting on Thursday.

During the meeting, Alan Sweetbaum, legal counsel for Telski, shared concerns about the tax.

“We think that passing this ordinance at this time is premature. Mr. Horning also believes there needs to be some kind of study to compare the cost of a new lift versus the cost of maintaining the old lift. That’s another concern that he has,” Sweetbaum said.

The decision to construct a new gondola, as opposed to upgrading the current one, was a multi-jurisdictional decision — with input from Telski — through the ongoing gondola planning process.

During public comment, the majority of speakers, including Paul Savage, spoke in support of the tax.

“Basically this, again, is just committing Mr. Horning to what he promised to do in the first place. I’m sorry it has to be this way. I wish we could all work together in good faith, but unfortunately, he’s not operating in good faith, so we have to take up the slack and do what we need to do,” Savage said.

Telluride Town Councilmember Geneva Shaunette and San Miguel County Commissioner Anne Brown shared support from the Town of Telluride and San Miguel County.

“We had all been hopeful that TSG owner, Chuck Horning, would follow through on his commitment to sign the funding agreement between TSG and the San Miguel Authority for Regional Transportation, SMART, that had been agreed upon in principle for months. Missing countless deadlines, and extensions, Mr. Horning returned three different versions of the contract to SMART, each one unilaterally altered to his benefit. This leaves the community with no choice but to seek an alternate solution in the ski lift ticket tax,” Brown said.

Sean Horning, son of Telski owner Chuck Horning, shared his opposition. He said Mountain Village shouldn’t model a tax after a different ski town.

“We’re not a Breck economy. We’re completely different — our shoulder seasons, we’re hard to get to, we have less visitorship than everywhere else. The ski company is overwhelmingly the largest contributor to tax revenue for the town. Having this overlay tax, I don’t know. To the extent that you have the discretion to have another meeting, so that we have time to understand and digest this, and consider the ramifications, I would urge you to do that,” Horning said.

During council discussion, Councilmember Rick Gomez noted that, as someone who works in hospitality, the tax isn’t ideal, but he’s looking at the bigger picture.

“As a lodger, I’m not extremely psyched about launching a new tax in the destination, particularly as we see visitation decrease over the past couple of years in Telluride. As a councilmember, I’m in favor of the 5%,” Gomez said.

Mountain Village Town Council unanimously approved ballot language asking voters to approve the tax. Mountain Village voters will decide on the issue in June.

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San Miguel County Considers Housing Mitigation Fee Update

In 2007, San Miguel County adopted employee housing mitigation fees. Prior to that year, people building one- or two-family homes in the county were required to build a deed-restricted accessory dwelling unit on their property. With the adoption of the fee, those homeowners could either build an ADU or pay a fee, with funds going toward the county’s housing program.

The fee is calculated, in part, based on the size of the project and the number of employees needed for the work.

“For example, a very small project that’s say, 2,500 square feet would probably generate one employee or less. Whereas, a house that’s coming in at 11,999 square feet – the max without a special use permit – is generating about four and a quarter employees,” San Miguel County Planning Director Kaye Simonson said at a Board of County Commissioners meeting this week.

Another piece of the calculation is based on the market-affordability gap. That’s the difference between the average price of a free market home in the region, compared to the price that would be affordable to a household making 100% of the Area Median Income.

While the fee structure was adopted in 2007, San Miguel County didn’t update the fee again until 2022.

“The average building square footage cost had risen dramatically, and that was one of the largest drivers in the increase of the fee,” said Mike Bordogna, San Miguel County manager.

While commissioners approved the update, it wasn’t without concern from the community.

“There was a lot of concerns shared from the public and from the construction industries, with the commissioners at the time, about how it was going to negatively impact their projects or their clients’ financial plans that they had made for their construction,” Bordogna said.

Commissioners took some steps to alleviate the pain. They set a lower limit—if a building was 2,000 square feet or less, the fee wouldn’t apply—and there would be a grace period for projects that were already in the works.

At that time, the Board of County Commissioners also decided to update the fee every year to keep it from having a massive jump.

That was 2022. The fee hasn’t been updated since. Bordogna notes there was litigation concerning the county’s methodology for determining the fee; they paused an update while that was ongoing.

But now, staff is considering moving forward with an update.

“We’re about to get into another building season, and we also know that square footage costs continue to increase. Despite national softening in new real estate construction, we’re not seeing that same softening, as far as pricing goes, in Telluride and San Miguel County,” Bordogna said.

The update is administrative and doesn’t require Board of County Commissioners action. But given the fact that there are two new commissioners on the board, and the housing landscape continues to change, staff wants to have a larger conversation about the mitigation fee.

“My concern is to get in that same place the county was at in 2022, when there hadn’t been an update in 15 years. Keeping up with the trends does make sense – incrementally – to reduce the eye popping rate shock,” Commissioner Galena Gleason said.

Staff and commissioners plan to have a larger conversation on the employee housing mitigation fee in May.

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Telluride Visits Camp Happy Sunshine

Camp Happy Sunshine is not your typical summer camp.

The counselors are bizarre. The campers are grumpy. The chipmunks dance.

This Friday, Telluride will take a trip to camp with a performance of Camp Happy Sunshine – an original one-act musical brought to audiences by the Sheridan Arts Foundation’s Young People’s Theatre.

“It’s about a summer camp and all the different colors at the summer camp. Charles and Charlene are definitely the funniest,” said Hudson Julia, who plays junior camp counselor Charles.

Charlotte Guest plays Charlene, Charles’ twin sister.

“The camp we’re at – Camp Happy Sunshine – has a loan from the neighboring lake camp – Camp Platinum Chutney – due to a mystery finagle years ago,” Guest said. “The campers hate it there. It’s super grungy. A little bit rustic. They’re trying to find a way to save the camp from getting bought out, and getting evicted, by Camp Platinum Chutney.”

The play was written and directed by Jennifer Nyman Julia and features 16 high school actors.

Actors received the script just before spring break and have had one week to get it up on stage. It’s been a whirlwind, and for several of the actors who are graduating seniors – including Guest – it’s their final Young People’s Theatre performance.

“Super stressful, bittersweet, amazing, fun, stellar time. If I had to throw some adjectives together on the spot,” Guest said.

Despite the short rehearsal process, the cast pulls it all together. Both Guest and Julia hope audiences leave laughing.

“I hope it’s a good time, a good laugh. Euphoric, perchance,” Julia said.

“Last year it was nonstop laughing. I think this is nothing short of that. So I think it will be nonstop laughing,” Guest added.

Camp Happy Sunshine will be performed at the Sheridan Opera House on Friday, April 25, at 6 p.m. The performance is free and open to the community.

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‘Safe at Home’ Class Teaches Kids Independence and Safety Skills

As kiddos grow up, their independence in the world expands. With that, comes the need for some safety tools.

This weekend, Bright Futures and Wilkinson Public Library are offering a Safe at Home class to help prepare kids to stay safe when they’re home alone for short periods.

The class is open to third-graders and older, and parents are encouraged to attend.

The Safe at Home class will be held Saturday, April 26, from noon to 2:30 p.m. at Wilkinson Public Library. Registration is required and available at telluridelibrary.org.

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Boat Ramps Open on the Western Slope

Warmer weather means boats are hitting the water, and boat ramps across the Western Slope are reopening.

The ramp at Ridgway State Park opened earlier this month, marking the start of the season. The park is also conducting Aquatic Nuisance Species (ANS) inspections.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) reminds boaters that before launching into Colorado waters, motorized boats must be registered and pass an ANS inspection.

Additionally, CPW urges all boaters to ensure their vessels have a life jacket on board. The agency also recommends taking a boating safety course to learn navigation and how to handle accidents.

Navajo and Crawford state parks are already open, with Sweitzer Lake, Paonia, and Mancos state parks set to open in the coming weeks.

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Colorado Bill Targets Explicit Deepfakes

State lawmakers are moving forward with an effort to outlaw explicit deepfake images of real people.

On Monday, lawmakers advanced a bill that would make it a crime to create or share AI-generated sexual images of someone without their consent.

Jessica Dotter, who works on sexual assault policy for the Colorado District Attorneys Council, which unanimously supports the bill, emphasized the need for updated protections.

“In a modern world where our identities and our selves exist far beyond our physical bodies and are vulnerable to attack on media, on social media, in text messages… we have to adapt to protect the people in these spaces,” Dotter said.

Dotter noted that 37 states already have laws criminalizing sexually exploitative deepfakes. Colorado’s bill would also make it illegal to create, distribute or possess AI-generated child pornography.

That provision, however, is raising some concerns.

“When we talk about someone under the age of 18 and it’s not tied to even a real person, how do you put an age on that? How do you draw lines around that? And if it’s to be criminalized, should you criminalize the same as something that harms and depicts an actual human?” said James Karbach of the Colorado State Public Defender’s Office.

The bill passed its first committee unanimously Monday and is now headed to the full Senate.

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Federal Cuts Threaten Western Farmers

Federal funding cuts are impacting agriculture programs that help western farmers and ranchers.

Rocky Mountain Community Radio’s Caroline Llanes has more.

Story begins at 14:15.

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Colorado Lawmakers Push for Gold King Mine Spill Compensation

Ten years ago, a spill at the Gold King Mine in southwestern Colorado turned the Animas River a bright shade of orange.

The disaster sent toxic waste through waterways that thousands of people rely on. It halted outdoor business operations, led to lost crops, and resulted in a loss of trust in government agencies.

Now, as KDNK’s Lily Jones reports, a bipartisan group of Colorado lawmakers in Washington is working to pass a measure to help those who have still not been compensated.

Story beings at 15:28.