VAIL | Vail Resorts and the town of Breckenridge have reached an agreement on a November ballot measure that will ask the town’s voters to approve long-term funding for parking projects through a tax on winter-only lift tickets.
Vail Resorts is guaranteeing the tax will raise at least $3.5 million a year for the town. That’s less than what the town hoped to raise for a transit plan that town leaders projected to cost $4 million to $6 million a year.
“In the spirit of compromise, the council felt this amount would be adequate to begin to work on the much-needed improvements for this vital issue for our community,” Breckenridge Mayor John Warner said in a statement. “The community has been telling us that parking and transit are an extremely important issue for the future of Breckenridge.”
A 4.5 percent tax would add about $6.70 to a $149 lift ticket.
The town and resort operator disagreed this year as they worked through a plan for parking and road improvements to ease congestion during peak times, the Denver Post reported (https://tinyurl.com/opqeb94).
Town leaders asked the resort operator to support a plan that included a large new parking garage, pedestrian bridges, road improvements and employee parking lots.
Vail said it would cover most of the cost of a smaller parking structure. The company balked at taxing its guests to support a transit plan that went beyond parking.
