Summer Special Event Crowd

The Town has put great effort and funding into securing and promoting special events.    The Town is improving its evaluation techniques to determine the return on its investment. Over five years into its special event strategy, the resulting growth in sales tax revenues has offset the losses from real estate taxes, but just barely.

Even after two consecutive years of record breaking sales tax generation, preliminary reports show the Town's stream of all revenues grew in 2013 by only 0.4% from the prior year when adjusted by the cost of living index of 1.5%.  As a result, the Town has had to draw down its reserve accounts to finance portions of its operational costs, including the hosting of special events. Critics are not saying whether the Town special event strategy is right or wrong, but ask the question, is it a viable strategy on which to sustain the government for the long term?  It is reported that a study conducted in the 1990's concluded that the Town could not survive long-term solely on sale tax revenues.

Special events attract large crowds of day visitors, which at times can be very disruptive.  And, as a result, the quality of the Vail experience is suffering from the stress of overcrowding, whether it is from parking on the Frontage Road, unruly crowds or hearing the tales of near miss collisions in the villages and on the mountain.  There are hidden costs for the Town to hold these events that are not readily apparent in the Town's budget.  At what point do certain types of special events and their frequency become more trouble and costly than they are worth? 

In the near term, Vail faces some major funding issues.  Just to name a few, the price tag for Gore Creek pollution cleanup has yet to be tallied and it could be a large number.  Vail needs some substantial infrastructure improvements, notably ground and air access to the Vail Medical Center facilities that are compatible with the surrounding residential neighborhoods.  Traffic flow remains a significant problem, particularly in the Golden Peak area.  And the redevelopment of the Vail municipal facilities will have a large price tag.

If sales tax growth trends remain modest, it could mean that there would be pressure to increase other types of taxes and fees.  For example, funding for the expansion of service to the Eagle County Airport is being proposed by some to come from increases in sales and lodging taxes.  The Town of Vail's new mandatory trash recycling ordinance will likely increase service fees for trash removal for most businesses, renters and homeowners.  Rate increases have already been put in place by the Eagle River Water and Sanitation District and are scheduled to appear on ratepayers' monthly bills in 2015.

MAKE SURE YOUR VOTE IS COUNTED!

VAIL RECREATION DISTRICT 

The Vail Recreation District is conducting an at-the-polls election to select three of their five member Board of Directors to serve four year terms. This is an important election as their Board oversees the management of the Vail Golf Course and Clubhouse as well as many other community programs. Ballots will not be mailed automatically, however, eligible voters can request an absentee ballot from the VRD's Designated Election Official if they desire to vote by mail.

The Vail Chamber and Business Association is hosting a VRD Candidate Forum from 5 to 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 10 in the Vail Town Council Chambers. The forum is open to the public. Candidates will answer a series of pre-determined questions and field questions from a live audience. Seven candidates, Kevin Foley, Constance Miller, Kimberley Newbury, Robert Oppenheimer, Brian Rodine, Tom Saalfeld and Penny Turilli are running for the three Board of Director seats.

The Eagle River Water & Sanitation District will be holding a mail ballot election to determine four of their seven member Board of Directors and to decide on a proposed property tax increase to fund $25 million in improvements to the District's 3 waste water treatment plants and an associated TABOR (de-Brucing) measure. Ballots will be automatically mailed to eligible electors between April 14th and April 21st. Voters not receiving their ballot by April 26th, should request a replacement ballot from the ERWSD's Designated Election Official.

Directors will be elected to serve a four-year term for Director Districts 1, 5 and 7 and one Director will be elected to serve a two-year term for Director District 2. The ERWSD did not receive any Self-Nomination and Acceptance forms for Director District 3, so there are no candidates on the ballot for this position. Following the election in May, the newly elected Board of Directors will have the opportunity to appoint a Director for Director District 3, who will serve until the next regular election in May of 2016. The candidates are:

See the Vail Homeowners Association website for more information on voter eligibility and requesting ballots for both elections.

Keeping Vail's residential property owners informed is a key mission for the VHA.  In this issue we reported on several of the economic challenges facing Vail.  For future editions, we will continue to monitor the issues affecting Vail's residential property owners.  We will report on what the issues are, what steps are being taken, or not taken, by those responsible and relate how those issues might play out to affect the quality of life for the Vail community.