Town of Vail makes budget cuts following announcement of early end to ski season

The town of Vail is now expecting 2026 revenues to be $5.5 million less than previously projected, the result of a lackluster ski season which reduced sales tax, ski lift tax and parking collections in town.

This, along with several other updates, was reflected in an ordinance passed by the Town Council on first reading Tuesday, making supplemental appropriations and adjustments to Vail’s 2026 budget.

In February, town staff told the council that early estimates had projected revenues to be approximately 10% too high. That figure turned out to be slightly overblown for January and February, which only reflected an 8.3% decrease in sales tax revenues compared to the prior year.

In 2025, the town earned $48.9 million in sales tax revenues, and $6.7 million in lift tax revenues.

While the latest numbers are not in yet, the town finance department is now expecting March sales tax to be 15% lower than last season, town of Vail Finance Director Carlie Smith told the council on Tuesday.

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And as far as April goes, the town is now considering it to look more like a typical May, following Vail Resorts’ Friday announcement that it was closing the mountain on Wednesday, 11 days earlier than previously targeted.

Vail Mountain is currently experiencing the lowest snowpack in recorded history, going back to the 1978-79 season when the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service installed an automated snowpack measuring machine on Vail Mountain.

“With the mountain closing a little early, we have reforecasted those (April sales tax numbers),” Smith said. “April is projecting down 46 percent, and the idea behind that is to have it look very similar to what May would look like.”

For lift tax revenues — that’s money that the town collects from Vail Mountain for lift ticket sales — the town saw a 9% reduction for January and February, and is expecting a 15% reduction for March. The town is also projecting a 100% reduction for April, just to be safe.

“I know there will be eight days of lift tax collection in there, but that’s a conservative forecast,” Smith said.

Along that same line of thinking, parking revenue in town is down 9% for January through March, but the town is now projecting a 97% reduction in parking revenue for April, Smith said.

In response the revenue reductions, town staff was asked to find ways to reduce operating and capital expenditure budgets for 2026. Operating budgets were reduced by $1.2 million, and capital projects budgets were reduced or defered by $6.7 million.

“I want to commend town staff and the department heads for finding where we could save some money,” said council member Dave Chapin.