Mayor's Minute

December Mayor's Minute

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Dear neighbors, I hope you are enjoying our open ski mountain ... and praying for more snow! We had a busy month with many interesting work streams. November 17 Meeting Highlights 1 > Staff presented a second schematic wayfinding design that will permeate the Village from the entrance all the way to Oak Street Plaza in the Town of Telluride, helping our visitors find everything such as parking, the gondola, shops and restaurants, and much more. 2 > Town Council endorsed a significant reduction in our mill levy from 11.8 to 1.8 after next year given the substantial pay down of debt. This presents a significant tax cut for all of our property owners. Residential property tax per $100,000 in taxable value will go from $201.26 in 2017 to $121.30 in 2018 in a static valuation analysis. All other property will go from $733.21 to $441.92. 3 > Town Council discussed the revised 2017 budget, with the only significant change being an increase to $430,000 for the upgrade of our wastewater treatment plant. This is the first of several years of increased spending to fund this multimillion dollar required upgrade. While Council had hoped to have the findings from our Benchmarking Study in time for the budget season, our consultant is struggling to get comparable data from other municipalities to finalize this report. With that, the town is exploring alternative paths to obtain the necessary data. In the meanwhile, on first reading, Town Council approved the 2017 and revised 2016 budgets and will consider them for a second reading this week. 4 > Telluride Ski & Golf Company presented its Master Development Plan that laid out a long-term vision of the ski resort for the Forest Service. I would encourage you to visit the company’s website to peruse the plan and learn about the possible enhancements. 5 > Routine land use matters and reports were offered and considered. 6 > Finally, the Town Hall Center Subarea Planning Committee updated Council with options for the area including enhanced services, better access, a larger park, more parking and better transit access, among many other ideas. Council hopes to see a fuller report from this committee over the holidays. December 8 Agenda Highlights This week Town Council will again consider a full agenda. 1 > The Telluride Tourism Board and the Colorado Flights Alliance (CFA) will provide their biannual update, including the recent expansion of year-round daily flight service and the re-establishment of service into Telluride Airport. Well done CFA! 2 > Council will consider a request to approve an open burn related to the Telluride Fire Festival. 3 > While not glamorous, there will be an update on the possible upgrade and expansion of our shared wastewater treatment plant with the Town of Telluride. These necessary improvements could prove quite expensive, so Town Council is seeking a full update and complete transparency. 4 > Councilwoman Benitez will lead an informational session on enhancements we can make to the town’s grant process for future years. 5 > Council will consider forming a committee to investigate options for the town-owned Telluride Conference Center. This facility will be fully paid off at the end of 2017. 6 > As usual, the agenda includes a full array of staff and Council updates as well as consideration of some routine land use matters. 7 > Finally, on the personnel front, we will be thanking and recognizing our Director of Marketing and Business Development Nichole Zangara Riley. She is leaving us and will be missed; please join us to wish her the best of luck in new endeavors. As always, we welcome and please join us online or in-person for our meeting, if you can. Warm Regards, Dan Jansen Mountain Village Mayor

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