Alta budget committee weighs $9 million facility plan, $1M church purchase and tax options

The Alta Budget Committee met April 24 to review a draft fiscal year 2026 budget that puts capital projects and possible new taxes at the center of planning for the next four years.

Committee members and staff focused first on long-range facility planning and a separately negotiated purchase of the building known as Our Lady of the Snows. Staff presented a range of replacement costs developed with consultant work: from about $6.2 million at the low end to $12.5 million at the high end, with a $9 million midpoint used for planning. The draft capital plan includes that midpoint as the working estimate for a new facility replacement.

Why it matters: the choice to buy or not buy Our Lady of the Snows (OLS) and how the town pays for a new building materially affect the capital-fund outlook and options for borrowing, bonding and future operating budgets.

The presentation said the town negotiated a $1,000,000 purchase price for Our Lady of the Snows, plus an estimated $50,000 in closing costs and $100,000 in near‑term repairs if the town proceeds with acquisition. Including known projects, staff calculated a four‑year capital spend of $10,761,248 in the scenario that includes the OLS purchase. Under that scenario staff projected the capital projects fund balance would fall to about $498,678 at the end of fiscal 2026 with the draft assumptions used in the presentation.

On taxes, the draft budget currently includes a $100,000 placeholder increase from a truth‑in‑taxation exercise. Staff said that modeling produced a very preliminary rate around 0.00126, which would increase a property owner’s bill by roughly $47 per $100,000 of assessed value (about $470 per $1,000,000). The presentation kept the transient room tax (a possible 1% municipal TRT) as an option for later discussion; staff estimated an added municipal TRT could generate roughly $200,000 a year but said the estimate depends on assumptions about lodging share of taxable activity.

The committee also reviewed operational and utility items in the draft budget. The wage and benefits assumptions include a 2.5% cost‑of‑living adjustment and continued use of a public‑sector benchmarking framework to set pay ranges. The draft budgets add a fifth marshal/deputy position; staff said the FY26 payroll increase totals approximately $163,000, of which about $108,000 is associated with the fifth officer (base wages plus scheduled overtime) and roughly $54,000 for the rest of staff adjustments.

On water and sewer, staff proposed a 10% water‑rate increase that staff said would raise a single‑family monthly bill by about $17 (from $1.35 to $1.52 on the example used in the presentation). The draft sewer proposal showed a larger increase on the example single‑family bill (from $1.03 to $1.24 monthly). Staff said the remote‑read meter rollout should reach roughly 90% of meters by the end of FY26, and that a recent waterline contract estimate put the total waterline job around $650,000 with $400,000 expected in FY25 under current projections.

Other items raised in committee discussion included uncertainty about the Alta Resort shuttle for next year and the need for a stakeholder meeting to consider service changes; technology and vendor problems delaying upgrades to the marshal’s camera and dispatch systems; and proposed short‑term capital spending for modest life‑safety and maintenance work rather than large investments until the council decides next steps on facilities.

Next steps staff outlined: (1) more detailed financial exhibits separating enterprise (water/sewer) and government (general) fund balances, (2) additional scenario work on bonding options and interest impacts, (3) stakeholder outreach and at least one extended workshop or retreat to present long‑term capital and tax choices to council and the public, and (4) further work on the OLS due‑diligence timetable and cost estimates.

The committee approved minutes from the March 12 budget committee meeting by motion (moved by Chris, seconded by Dan) with the committee voting in favor. The April 24 meeting adjourned by motion and unanimous voice vote.

Staff and committee members agreed to return with more detailed exhibits and a proposed schedule for a longer workshop before the council moves to any formal tax or bond decisions.