Steamboat Springs, Colorado — After months of negotiations, tensions over the funding of a new public transit system are reaching a new high.
Currently, Steamboat Springs is home to a reliable transit system that provides bus services throughout the ski town. However, there isn’t reliably consistent service yet throughout the county. Recently, discussions have been underway regarding how to fund the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA), which aims to increase service throughout the region.
Negotiations have been ongoing regarding Steamboat Resort’s (known locally as the Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp., which is owned by Alterra) potential to be a significant funder of the new transit system. The preference is to have an annual contract, which would have the ski resort give the service $1 million each year. In what appears to be a backup plan, Steamboat Springs has considered implementing a lift ticket tax. However, the intention of the lift ticket tax seems to be to leverage the ski resort into negotiations for funding the transportation authority.
Earlier this month, the town and the ski resort supposedly reached a twenty-year agreement that would provide $1 million per year for a period of twenty years. However, the ski resort reportedly backed out at the last minute after reading the fine print that was a part of the agreement. Steamboat now wants to sign only a three-year deal worth $1 million per year. The caveat with this contract is that it will only be offered to the county if it drops the lift ticket tax referendum.
“[Ski Corp.] is fully committed to the long-term success of the RTA and building an innovative and robust transportation system benefitting our region,” said Katie Brown, the vice president of brand and resort strategy at Steamboat Resort, at the City Council meeting. “[The three-year funding pledge represents] a clear signal in our belief in the importance of the RTA and the future of our good faith with the city, county and regional partners as we finalize a long-term agreement.”
While one tenured resident described the ski resort’s revised offer as “offensive and inadequate,” there’s a risk of going the route of the lift ticket tax. While it could raise up to $6 million for the transit service each year, it’s unclear whether it would pass, as the ski resort would likely start a campaign against the referendum. This could lead to them having no funding from the ski resort for the creation of the transit service.
The Yampa Valley Bugle reports that on Monday, the Steamboat Springs City Council approved moving forward with an agreement that would have Steamboat Resort pay $1 million each year for a three-year period to fund the RTA.
While they did move forward with the plan, most councilors were reluctant to do so. One Councilor, Bryan Swintek, dissented and let his feelings be known about the ski resort:
“Billion-dollar companies become billion-dollar companies by manipulating the system in their favor. They plead poor while driving in their branded Rivians. They fluff us, they screw us, and then they give us their pittance, and we thank them for it…
We are all kidding ourselves if we believe that they will come back to the table in a different fashion a third time. When someone shows you who they are, believe them.
We are offering the resort a discount of $1 million a year so they can ship their employees here and bring their customers here, because if they had to pay their people a living wage to live in town, or provide housing, it would cost them more than $1 million. Yet they still balk at this because they know they can win the game. You can have someone in our meetings for a year and a half make promises, and then at the eleventh hour manipulate the system in your favor and then make us look like the bad ones.”
The situation is expected to come to a head next Tuesday, September 2nd. This is when they’re set to formally approve or deny the three-year deal, and also debate whether the lift ticket tax should be on the November ballots. It should be an entertaining meeting; let’s hope they provide some popcorn.
A question will be on the November 2025 election ballot, which will ask voters from each town whether their community should join the RTA. For now, it remains uncertain whether a lift ticket tax referendum will appear on the November ballot for Steamboat Springs voters.
Image/Video Credits: Mick Haupt, City of Steamboat Springs, Nicholas Fuentes
