It’s official: Snowmass Village voters will be asked this November to support a property tax to help purchase the Droste property and fund transportation for the town.
In a special meeting on Monday morning, Snowmass Village Town Council unanimously supported the measure, which would generate $2 million for the Droste purchase and $357,000 per year for transportation.
The tax, if passed, would cost residential property owners about $65 each year per $1 million worth of value. Commercial property owners pay about three times as much on their tax bills.
The tax would sunset after seven years, with the transportation funding portion expiring in five years and the Droste piece continuing for an additional two years.
The council, presented Monday with two scenarios for how to structure the tax, decided on the option that would tie the tax rate to the revenue needed for both purposes. That means that although the mil levy could fluctuate from year to year based on property valuations, the revenue generated would be roughly the same.
The new tax would replace a .81 mil levy expiring this year that funds two retiring bonds used for roads and operational facilities. The amount taxpayers are being asked to fund for the Droste purchase and transportation needs was meant to be roughly equivalent to that expiring tax.
Snowmass is facing a budget shortfall of about $700,000 next year and $500,000 after that for the next five years, town officials have estimated. They originally came to town council with a proposal for a property tax to replace the expiring one that would pay for transportation and the town’s new recreation center.
Then Pitkin County officials announced that they had put the 742-acre Droste property under contract for $18 million.
The county originally asked Snowmass Village to pitch in $2.5 million and the city of Aspen for $1 million, to supplement its anticipated contribution of $10 million toward the purchase. The balance will be raised through state grants and private funding.
Snowmass is the only jurisdiction of the three that is asking its voters for funding through a tax.
The Droste property, which encompasses much of a sagebrush and scrub oak-covered ridge on the east side of Brush Creek Road at the entrance to the valley, is valued for its wildlife habitat and recreation potential, and has long been sought for open space. Last year, the county reluctantly granted development rights for nine homesites and a three-mile access road on the prominent hillside — rights that would be extinguished with the open space purchase.
In light of the county’s request for funding help for Droste, Snowmass council members decided to drop the idea of funding the recreation center with a property tax.
At one point, the council was considering three separate property tax questions on the ballot.
The rec center is currently funded by real estate transfer taxes, which have seen a dramatic drop in the last two years.
If passed, the property tax would not cover the shortfall in transportation funding, town finance director Marianne Rakowski warned the council on Monday.
“There’s still going to be cuts; we’re just trying to minimize those cuts,” she said.
Councilman John Wilkinson was not too pleased about asking voters to pass a tax to support transportation and still make cuts that will affect Snowmass transit riders.
“That’s a real tough pill to swallow,” he said.
Some county officials also are not entirely pleased about Snowmass’ decision on the Droste tax question.
Pitkin County treasurer Tom Oken pointed out that the county has asked for Snowmass’ $2 million contribution up front, to be able to close on the property by the end of the year.
That would have required Snowmass to bond for the amount, which the town isn’t willing to do. If the money comes in over a 7-year period, as is currently being proposed, Oken said, the county will have to bond against it and will only receive about $1.665 million toward the purchase price.
“So we will have to find other revenue sources,” he said, and asked for the council to consider extending the tax to get closer to the $2 million figure.
The council declined that request.
Snowmass resident Steve Parmelee warned the council that there’d be consequences to raising taxes “during an economic collapse.”
Parmelee said businesses will have to raise prices just to cover the expense of the tax, and the government will lose revenues such as property taxes on the lots and building permit fees due to the Droste property not being developed.
“I’m not saying it’s all negative but there are trade-offs,” he said. “It would be nice to have a list so voters can make an informed decision.”
Wilkinson countered that it’s not a new tax, and suggested that the amount being asked for “is not enough to run a business out of business.”
The council had to decide on the ballot measure Monday in order to meet the deadline for the Nov. 2 election.
lutz@aspendailynews.com