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Minturn likely to approve November special election for a pair of issues

If approved, residents will vote on a tax increase for short-term rentals, while a group of downtown property owners will decide if they want to get serious about redevelopment

A pair of ballot issues is likely to be decided in a special election in November in Minturn. Residents will decide if they want to increase taxes on short-term rentals, and a group of downtown property owners will decide if they want to create a downtown development district for the purpose of seeking bonds for redevelopment.
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The town of Minturn on Wednesday is likely to approve a pair of ballot questions for the November election, asking residents whether they would like to increase taxes on short-term rentals and create a downtown development authority.

A first reading of ordinances approving the ballot questions were both approved unanimously in July, and second readings of those ordinances — along with a resolution to enlist the services of the Eagle County Clerk and Recorder during the Nov. 5 general election — are on the Town Council’s agenda for Wednesday.

The short-term rental question would take taxes from the current level of 1.5% of the cost of the rental to 6.5% — a 5% increase.



Town Treasurer Jay Brunvand assured residents the tax, if passed, would only increase for residential short-term home rentals, like those found on VRBO or Airbnb, it would not increase taxes for lodging establishments in town.

“It will not affect things like the Minturn Inn or Hotel Minturn or the Eagle River Inn,” Brunvand told the council in July.

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Mayor Earle Bidez said he felt the 6.5% tax would be considered average for a town tax on short-term rentals in Eagle County.

“It’s not going to hurt anybody from a competitive point of view,” he said.

The creation of the downtown development authority is a different type of election, in which only the property owners within the special tax district proposed would be allowed to vote.

The special district would be allowed to seek bonds based on theoretical increases to property values within the district that could occur if those properties had access to that bond money and used it for redevelopment. Those properties, in the future, would be assessed at a higher value, and the increased amount of taxes collected would be used to pay off the bond.

The town hired financial analyst Jim Mann as a consultant to help study the creation of a tax increment finance district, and Mann said his company analyzed various development concepts within the proposed district to theorize what could happen in Minturn if such a tool was used.

“We looked at the 100-block standards and said ‘OK you’ve got your first floor, most are going to be commercial, second floor most are going to be residential,'” Mann told the council. “And then on the aggressive, we included that third floor that’s included in your design standards.”

Mann said a conservative estimate on a new buildout of all the property within the district, which is currently valued at $3 million to $5.7 million, would be a roughly $20 million net increase in property values within the district.

“If we go to the aggressive side it’s more than double that at about $44 million,” Mann said.

Nearby Vail used tax-increment financing and the creation of an urban renewal authority to redevelop Lionshead in the 2000s. In Avon, a downtown development authority was created in 2023 as a potential funding mechanism for the development of community housing. 

If the Minturn authority is approved and created, adjacent property owners would be allowed to join later by opting in.

“The initial map is just for primarily the core group of folks we’ve been trying to get, as stakeholders, to start the DDA, and then once the DDA is started, we look to bring on additional folks that are interested — and we hope there will be lots — to take part,” said Town Manager Michelle Metteer. “It is not fixed in stone, and we expect it to evolve and grow over time.”


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