Steamboat could still pursue lift tax after Resort ‘abruptly reneged’ on RTA funding pledge
- Dylan Anderson
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp. is offering $1 million for next year with the intention of negotiating a 20-year deal in good faith with the future RTA board.
Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp.’s unwillingness to commit $1 million a year for 20 years to a Yampa Valley Regional Transportation Authority has become an eleventh-hour hurdle in the RTA formation process and may even imperil the city of Steamboat Springs' recently approved lift tax deal with the Resort.
According to a report from city staff, Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp. “abruptly reneged” on its commitment to provide $1 million a year for 20 years to a Yampa Valley Regional Transportation Authority on Aug. 6. That was the day after City Council approved terms of a deal to avoid sending a more onerous lift tax proposal to voters.
At that point, the 20 years of funding — a pledge that resort officials don’t deny making and that is documented in materials sent to voters earlier this month — became a key sticking point for Ski Corp.
In a meeting with the RTA Formation Committee on Aug. 13, Roger Levanduski, the head of finance for Ski Corp., acknowledged that while the resort’s concerns with a longer deal may look like a “bait and switch” or “the ski resort dragging its feet,” he insisted they were still committed to supporting regional transit long term. While there has long been talk of the resort's commitment to provide annual RTA funding, Levanduski said they had not started looking at the details of such an agreement until lift tax talks had ended.
Instead of a 20-year deal for $1 million each year, resort officials pitched $1 million for next year and a commitment to negotiate with a future RTA board in good faith toward a longer, 20-year deal. That money would be contingent on voters approving an RTA this fall.
“What has flown up a flag on our end is really the length of term that we are committing to and needing to be sure that we do an extra layer of diligence before we commit to this group for the full 20 years,” Levanduski said at the Formation Committee’s Aug. 13 meeting, presenting the deal as offering all sides more time to come to an agreement. “We still have that commitment, but we have diligence on our end.”
The eleventh-hour development in an RTA formation process has already forced the city of Craig and town of Yampa to push back plans to consider sending an RTA ballot question to their voters. Those questions need to be referred by each of the six jurisdictions making up a Yampa Valley RTA by Sept. 5 to make it on November’s ballot.
Not only is there a time crunch, the lack of a long-term commitment has the Routt County Commissioners questioning whether they will send an RTA question to voters at all. On Monday, Commissioners sent a letter to Ski Corp. asking for a three-year funding commitment, a request Resort officials told The Yampa Valley Bugle on Monday evening that they had not formally responded to yet.
Routt County Commissioner Sonja Macys, who represents Routt County on the formation committee, said Monday the Resort not committing to 20 years of funding at this stage is “like a massive betrayal.” Macys specifically mentioned language the Formation Committee has already included on mailers to voters, saying the RTA would be paid for in part from a 20-year commitment from the Resort.
“That’s what we told our voters, that’s what [Ski Corp.] told us,” Macys said. “It’s kind of like a massive betrayal.”
Furthermore, Steamboat Springs City Council has purposefully kept the first reading of a potential lift tax on the agenda for Tuesday night’s meeting, despite having agreed to a deal with the Resort meant to avoid that step earlier this month.
“It is purposefully there,” said Council President Gail Garey on Monday, when asked for clarification about the agenda item from The Bugle.
Macys pushed City Council to tear up its lift tax deal at the Aug. 13 Formation Committee meeting, saying that it may be time for officials to regulate rather than collaborate.
“You guys told us that the lift ticket tax had nothing to do with this discussion and within 12 hours of signing the agreement with the city, you changed your tune on what we are dealing with,” Macys said. “If the tune has changed from the ski company as to what they commit to, the city also has a right to change their tune.”
Council member Brian Swintek then chimed in to tell Macys that Council intended to keep consideration of a lift tax on the agenda due to the RTA funding issue.
Dave Hunter, President and COO of Steamboat Resort, said at the Aug. 13 meeting that there was no direct connection between the lift tax negotiations and RTA funding. Instead, the resort was focused on finalizing a lift tax deal with the city before it turned to working on an agreement for RTA funding.
“That is the only way they are tied together,” Hunter said.
When asked Monday, Ski Corp.'s Director of Communications Maren Franciosi said "an organization of our size requires more than a week to responsibly review and finalize a substantial 20-year agreement," adding that Ski Corp. is "fully committed to the formation and long-term success of the RTA."
While some argue the lift tax and RTA are separate issues, that has not stopped Resort officials from talking about them in the same context. For example, Ski Corp. officials have said the city pushing for more money in lift tax talks could not only threaten Ski Corp.’s contribution to an RTA, but also other philanthropic work they are doing in town. The Resort's contribution to the RTA is also repeatedly mentioned in notes summarizing lift tax negotiations with the city.
The deal signed with the city this month gets roughly $2.25 in new money for Steamboat Springs Transit. The last version of a lift tax ballot question discussed by council would have gotten more than double that amount, at about $6 million a year in new revenue.
Council member Michael Buccino, chair of the RTA Formation Committee, dismissed the idea of reopening the lift tax deal, saying Macys was stepping outside of her role as a County Commissioner to suggest the city take such action. Buccino, who has long lobbied against a lift tax in favor of a deal with the resort, said he approved of Ski Corp.’s one-year funding offer, adding that it was on the resort to eventually get a long-term RTA funding deal done.
“It’s a reputation issue for them, being as they have stated this [20-year pledge] over and over again, in our surveys, in our public outreach,” Buccino said. “I think this was a good compromise.”
At the Formation Committee’s Aug. 13 meeting, it appeared that a majority of jurisdictions were willing to move forward with the deal Ski Corp. presented in order to keep the RTA on track for a November vote.
“That is not a deal breaker, I don’t think for the messaging for the RTA,” said Hayden Mayor Ryan Banks at the Aug. 13 meeting. “I don’t think it will affect the outcome [of an RTA vote].”
Still, Macys noted that not all the jurisdictions have to agree to move forward with an RTA now, saying that she has a level of discomfort that feels like they are being “dishonest with voters.
“If this Formation Committee as a whole decides that this is acceptable, that’s fine,” Macys said. “Also, Hayden, Routt County, Oak Creek, Yampa, Steamboat Springs can choose to not put this on the ballot and not be part of the district.”