HomeMy WebLinkAboutagenda.council.worksession.20250804AGENDA
CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION
August 4, 2025
4:00 PM, City Council Chambers
427 Rio Grande Place, Aspen
I.Work Session
I.A Parks and Open Space Budget Presentation
II.Council discussion of the items published in the most recent information update,
as needed
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250804 Parks and Open Space Budget Memo.docx
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MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Matt Kuhn, Parks and Open Space Director
THROUGH: Austin Weiss, Director of Parks and Recreation
MEETING DATE: August 4, 2025
RE: Parks Fund Work session
PURPOSE OF WORK SESSION:
The goal of this work session is to review the Parks (100) Fund draft 2026 budget and five-year
outlook. Staff are requesting feedback from Council on priorities and to ensure that draft
budget aligns with Council goals and the broader community.
BACKGROUND:
The parks fund receives revenue primarily from a 1.5% sales tax. This tax has origins in two
separate citizen-led initiatives. In 1970, voters passed a 1.0% sales tax with 76% of voters in
support of the tax at that time. The original 1.0% sales tax focused on acquisitions of real
property including open space and for the expenses related to the “expenditures necessary to
protect such property…”, and also included provisions for the reimbursement of food tax, which
is still in effect today.
Twenty years later, Aspen voters revised the 1970 Sixth Penny Sales Tax to be limited for Parks,
Trails, and Open Space Uses. Question No. 2 from February 1990 allows City Council to expend
the 1.0% sales tax funds “solely for the acquisition of parks, trails, and open space real property,
for the construction of improvements on any real property, owned or purchased by the City for
parks, trails and open space purposes, ….for maintenance….of parks, trails and open space, and
for payment of indebtedness incurred for acquisition or improvements…”.
In the late 1990’s, a group of citizens, elected officials, and City staff began coalescing various
needs and interests for improvements at the time and initiated the process to add an additional
0.5% tax. Notably, needed improvements to the Moore Pool evolved into the concept and
support for a new Recreation Center. A golf clubhouse was needed at the Aspen Golf Course,
as well as traffic calming and a multi-use trail along Cemetery Lane from Stein Park to Highway
82. Other community needs that could be funded by an additional tax were the construction of
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a new ballfield complex, open space acquisitions on Smuggler Mountain, and a trail to Aspen
Highlands.
With these diverse needs in mind, Aspen voters approved an additional 0.5% Open Space Sales
Tax in November 2000, with 63% of the Aspen voters in favor of the question. The tax imposed
an additional half cent (0.5%) tax on all sales as well as allowing an additional 38 million dollars
in debt bonding authority. Unique to the 0.5% sales tax is that it allows for additional
recreation uses and states, “For the purpose of buying, improving and maintaining trail,
recreational and open space properties, and ancillary facilities.” The inclusion of recreation
within the authorizing language has allowed for the construction of the Aspen Recreation
Center, and has been used for support of incidental operation and maintenance expenses for
both golf and recreation programs.
In 2022, voters approved the renewal of the 0.5% sales tax in perpetuity with 73% voter
approval, and since then, the two sales taxes have been combined as one line within the 100
fund revenue budget. Importantly following this approval, all major recreation facility projects,
such as major maintenance of the Recreation Center or the Aspen Ice Garden, moved from the
General Fund to the Parks Fund. This change alleviates some pressure from the General Fund,
and requires close coordination within the Parks and Recreation programs to balance and
manage a widened range of priorities, from open space acquisitions, to park improvements,
and recreation facility upgrades and upkeep.
DISCUSSION:
Parks and Open Space staff will discuss the following subjects in greater detail during the work
session.
Outlook, Strategy and Vision for budget 2026-2030:
Following an exceptional year for capital projects in 2024 with nearly $20m in capital project
work, staff anticipated and planned to reduce the 2025 project portfolio. This effort would
allow the 100 fund to recover, and also to allow for staff to refocus their time on other tasks
such as management plan development and staff capacity building. As staff prepared the 2026 -
2030 budget, staff plan to continue a focused project portfolio, and to prepare for a few larger
commitments that will occur in 2027 and 2028. This approach is partly driven by the
anticipated softening tax revenue in 2027 due to the airport closure. This reduction in revenue ,
along with commitments for projects such as the Willoughby park project, Conner park
improvements, and necessary recreation facility maintenance work in 2026, stretch the fund
and limit potential additional projects.
Looking forward to the next five years, staff are also shifting efforts to generally only initiate
projects that can be designed and implemented using in-house labor. This focus aims to reduce
project costs associated with design and contracted construction fees. The final major factor in
capital development is the possible realignment of priorities following the completion of the
strategic plan, anticipated to be completed in late 2025. The strategic plan will likely identify
new priorities that will be introduced for consideration in the 2027 budget.
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Operations and broader department funding:
Each year, staff review and make minor changes to operating budgets. For the 202 6 budget,
staff are proposing to keep funding generally within the allocated inflation rates. The Nordic
program is requesting additional funding for one seasonal position, which would be 100% offset
by the Pitkin County Open Space and Trails program funding.
Recreation Facilities:
The majority of expenditures from the Parks Fund capital budget in 2026 address critical facility
infrastructure needs at the Aspen Ice Garden and Aspen Recreation Center and strongly
correlate to the Council Goal related to Infrastructure Resilience. This includes a replaster of
the lap pool, replacement of pool drains, as well as critical boiler and electrical work at the ARC.
At the Aspen Ice Garden, staff plan to replace the refrigeration system. Most of the recreation
facility infrastructure projects in the next five years can be characterized as critical maintenance
needs. Staff work to plan for and schedule these with building functioning, safety and staff
capacity in mind, whilst also balancing and planning for other Parks and Open Space capital
projects.
Parks and Open Space Priority Discussion:
Several Parks and Open Space projects have been pushed to out-years in order to ensure a
healthy fund balance. With the compounding effects of the airport closure sales tax softening,
and expenditures on Conner Park and Willoughby Park (as discussed in the May 5, 2025 work
session with City Council), the parks fund has limited funding available for other large-scale
projects. Therefore, some larger scale projects are forecasted to pushed beyond the 2028
timeframe. These projects include pedestrian safety improvements on the mall, possible bridge
connections to the Rio Grande trail in partnership with Pitkin County, a new trail connecting
Buttermilk with Truscott on the south side of Highway 82, and a replacement of the Yellow
Brick playground. Discussions with the Open Space and Trails Board in March defined the
following prioritization, which is currently being used as a high-level prioritization for capital
project timing.
1. Yellow Brick Playground Replacement (2030)
2. AABC to Brush Creek Bridge project (2031)
3. Driving range and snowmaking improvements at Aspen Golf Course (2028)
4. Galena Plaza phase two (2032)
5. Truscott Trail (2030)
6. Skate Park expansion
7. Anderson Park renovation (2034)
8. Francis Whitaker renovation
(Please note that prioritization and implementation year might not align due to factors such as
complexity, land use authorization, design and engineering, and funding amounts needed)
Council has established three project priorities, and the 100 Fund is currently aligned closely
with the Armory Hall project, with funding allocated in 2027 for the construction of the
associated park space. The most closely connected parks capital projects to the Entrance to
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Aspen are the AABC to Brush Creek Bridges and Truscott Trail projects. Both of these projects
can provide alternative transportation options for bicycles and pedestrians and may help with
traffic flow and congestion relief.
ALTERNATIVES:
Many alternative scenarios exist for capital planning, and Parks and Open Space staff engage
each year with the Open Space and Trails board to determine the recommended prioritization
and budget priority.
During the work session, staff welcome discussion around alternatives and priorities.
CITY MANAGER COMMENTS:
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