After honoring Veterans Day with a day off, Nov. 11, trustees held their regular meeting on Nov. 18 to continue drilling down on a 2026 budget. All were present.
Following student of the month awards, a consent agenda was approved including meeting minutes and a contract for improving irrigation and landscaping at the Jail and Cabin History Park with All Around Property Maintenance Inc. for $20,600.
During trustee comments, Jess Robison announced that Clean Energy Economy for the Region submitted an application for the Colorado Energy Office’s Local IMPACT Accelerator grant on behalf of Carbondale. Erica Sparhawk mentioned that the Special Events Task Force will meet on Dec. 17 at 5:30pm at Town Hall to review 2025 events on town properties and plan for 2026 — all are welcome to attend. Colin Laird gave a shout-out to the Northern Lights — “Wow, unbelievable” — and stated that due to Garfield County’s $9 million budget shortfall, Roaring Fork Transportation Authority’s Hogback bus route serving the western end of the county will be cut.
Town Manager Ryan Hyland shared that the Eighth Street sidewalk project is now complete and the futsal court near City Market will soon be open to the public.
Trustees then received their monthly pool update. Tammy Tucker with Wember said that everything is on track for opening in May, and the public sidewalk should be open again next month. Trustee Ross Kribbs inquired about a trail between the Forest Service building and pool, connecting Main Street to Sopris Park. Parks and Rec Director Eric Brendlinger confirmed that pathway will be sealed.
“I’m a little confused as to how we should address this,” said Kribbs. “It was brought up a number of times, didn’t get traction anywhere, didn’t get a response.”
Mayor Ben Bohmfalk contested, “You brought it up a number of times. It was never brought up as a design change. I’ve trusted they’ve heard those comments, looked at it, didn’t see it as feasible.”
“I definitely agree with Ross,” Trustee Chris Hassig chimed in. He suggested requesting the Forest Service add a gate to their chainlink fence, illuminating the usefulness of that access for handicap parking during Mountain Fair. Sparhawk thought a narrow, unlit alleyway there could be “sketchy.”
Moving on, trustees approved updates to Appendix A of the Municipal Code — the fee schedule. This included a 10% increase to water and waste water rates, a 33% increase to park rental feeds and additional increases for Parks and Recreation amenities. A 3.2% increase to trash and recycling rates was approved in September.
Among the changes, recreation punch passes will double up for use at the Rec Center and pool. Brendlinger described undergoing a feasibility study to determine those rates, which looked at nearby pools for a benchmark. Discounted season passes will be sold from January to the pool opening date — $240 for adults, $180 for youth and seniors, $550 for a household (two adults, one youth).
Next, trustees reviewed community grant appropriations totaling $155,763. Local nonprofits could request up to $7,000 each. Trustees then individually allocated funds according to the budget, which was averaged out to determine the awards. Staff was directed to continue tweaking the formula given KDNK, Roaring Fork Youth Orchestra and High Country Sinfonia were mistakenly penalized with two trustees involved in those organizations placing $0 to avoid a conflict of interest.
Lastly, trustees got another overview of the 2026 budget. Bohmfalk commended Hyland and Finance Director Ola Verploegh for “the clearest one page of our budget I’ve ever seen.” This budget forecasts a 0% increase in sales tax for 2026, based on 2025 revenue through September and 2024 revenue for October through December. Verploegh explained that every 1% accounts for approximately $97,000. If revenue comes in above this projection, it will be added to the fund balance.
Returning to an earlier discussion, trustees elected to proceed with undergrounding utilities at Chacos Park while dialing in construction documents in 2026. Hyland suggested this will help hone in on the true cost of that project with respect to other capital needs.
Some contention arose surrounding Rec Department requests for $30,000 toward new sand at the Miners Park volleyball courts and $80,000 for bleachers at the pickleball courts — both one-time costs. “I worry about creeping expectations,” Hassig stated. “We’re not a public country club.”
“We’re not trying to make difficult cuts to our budget,” Robison argued in favor of the improvements. “The budget proposed is balanced and conservative. Why not go with this?”
Given other priorities (housing, public bathrooms, streetscaping), Hassig, Kribbs, Laird and Christina Montemayor voted to eliminate that $110,000 from the 2026 budget. Bohmfalk, Sparhawk and Robison voted in favor of keeping it. The split vote fell in favor of saving the money this coming year.