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Vail to spend surplus money

Lauren Glendenning
lglendenning@vaildaily.com
Vao, CO Colorado

VAIL, Colorado –The Vail Town Council might have $3.2 million to spend until the town’s 2011 budget, but that doesn’t mean the town is going to spend it all.

Town Manager Stan Zemler said the money, which is surplus from the 2008 budget, is there to help the town maintain services and staff as it did in 2009, but things will change come 2011.

Zemler pointed out that there were already cuts in 2009 and the town’s adjusted revenue projections for the year are down 15 percent on top of what was already down from 2008.



The surplus money, which is part of the general fund surplus of more than $25 million, will help the town ride out 2010. The town has committed to making the 2011 budget reflect actual town revenues versus expenses, though, he said.

“We’re being pretty realistic about where we think the revenues are going to be (in 2011),” Zemler said. “We’re smart, we’re prudent, we don’t do things we don’t need to do.”

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Zemler said with where the 2010 budget stands now, the town would only have to tap into less than half of the $3.2 million. He said that doesn’t mean something won’t come up.

The town plans to go over the budget projections again in January when it can weigh things like December’s revenues and the amount of snowfall as part of its predictions for the year.

Zemler said the town’s general fund reserves are much healthier than the average municipality, but the town doesn’t want to get in the bad habit of tapping into them if it doesn’t need to.

Vail Town Council members agreed Tuesday that the town should be as conservative as possible because it lacks the ability to predict next year’s revenues.

“This is nothing any of us can foresee,” Councilman Andy Daly said. “We are in times that are unprecedented.”

Lauren Glendenning can be reached at 970-748-2983 or lglendenning@vaildaily.com


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