All Carbondale trustees were present at their regular meeting on July 27.
During opening comments, trustee Lani Kitching talked about a gradual release of contracted water at the Ruedi Reservoir to help fish populations by cooling the Roaring Fork River. Carbondale, Basalt and Glenwood Springs participated.
Trustee Marty Silverstein mentioned there will be a hiring event in front of the post office on July 29. “If you’re interested — go,” he said to no one in particular. “I won’t say the pay is the best, but the benefits are the best.”
Town Manager Lauren Gister announced that Jared Barnes, an Eagle County planning manager, was hired as the town’s next planning director with Janet Buck having recently retired. Barnes will begin work on Aug. 22 and will help to hire a new planning tech. The town is interviewing candidates for the finance director and public information officer positions with a goal of filling both by the end of August.
Next, trustees breezed through approval of the consent agenda and a special event liquor license for the Roaring Fork Sports Foundation, beneficiary of this year’s Cowboy Up fundraising event on Aug. 26. Funds raised will go toward Roaring Fork High School sports teams as they travel to finals and tournaments.
Another quick, unanimous approval went toward accepting public infrastructure improvements made by Sopris Lodge as a condition of that development. Improvements included two water main installations and sidewalk improvements on Second Street.
Moving along, trustees were given an update by Mattie Prodanovic of Hilltop Securities regarding the selling of bonds to build a new aquatics facility, as authorized in the April election. Prodanovic addressed concerns around increased interest rates and inflation. She explained that within the parameters established by the ballot language, they’re “sitting right around” what was predicted. If all goes as planned, the town will have $8 million available by Sept. 27 after unanimously voting to authorize the sale of bonds on Sept. 13.
Parks and rec director Eric Brendlinger followed up with a best-case timeline for construction of the new pool. Once funding is acquired, a 12-month process can begin that would include final designs and bidding. Demolition could then happen in August 2023. Allowing eight months for construction, the new aquatics facility would optimistically be open by May 2024. If the process takes longer, then the town may have to forgo its 2024 pool season.
Trustee Erica Sparhawk encouraged Brendlinger to bring energy efficiency consulting into the project from the beginning, to be sure that’s prioritized. Mayor Ben Bohmfalk agreed that funds should be sought specifically to make the pool as net zero as possible.
The final item of discussion involved placing either a lodging tax or short-term rentals (STR) tax — or both — on the November ballot. “Just about every jurisdiction is putting a question on the ballot about a STR or lodging tax,” stated Gister.
Right away, based on general consensus at a recent work session, trustee Colin Laird proposed deciding on an STR tax before talking about a lodging tax. A 5% STR tax, as outlined in the packet, is projected to bring in $150,000.
Using that 5% as a starting figure, Silverstein emphasized that, with the 8.4% sales tax and current 2% lodging tax, the total tax to STR renters would be 15.4% — “still less than most towns in our community.”
“I won’t go below 5%,” said trustee Chris Hassig. “The commercial property tax disparity is an important consideration to me,” he said in reference to STR operators paying residential taxes at 7% which are less than the 29% paid by commercial property owners.
Kitching agreed — “any other bucket-list destination, you’d be paying 10% or above.”
“I think we’re ready to direct staff to come back with language,” said Bohmfalk. “Maybe 6% is the magic number we could agree on.” Laird proposed as much with the 6% tax dedicated to a community housing fund. Approval was unanimous.
Considering a lodging tax increase to better fund the town’s Tourism Council, “My thoughts have evolved on this,” said Bohmfalk. Based on comments made by lodging owners at a previous meeting, he considered it wise to take a year to explore the idea more in-depth. Additionally, “I don’t want the two to compete with each other,” he said of putting two tax-related questions on the ballot, even though neither will directly affect residents.
“The brutal irony,” Hassig addressed the Tourism Council, “is you’ve done a brilliant job with limited resources.”
Regarding STRs, so far the town has issued 23 licenses, announced town clerk Cathy Derby. A third of these, she explained, are people who just rent a bedroom. “Don’t get your hopes up,” she said regarding the STR tax.
To continue operating while regulations are determined, STRs must be registered by Monday, Aug. 1 (www.bit.ly/CdaleSTR). Owner-occupied STRs and STRs located in the Historic Commercial Core zone district can apply for license at any time.