Industry News
The Town of Vail, Coloradoโs, $157.8 million expenditure plan for 2025 passed on December 2. It aims to provide excellent municipal services while prioritizing five key goals: creating a strong community and affordable housing, supporting the workforce, offering an authentic Vail experience, improving transportation, and promoting environmental sustainability.
One of the budget’s priorities is improving employee retention and recruitment. The 2025 proposed budget includes a $600,000 increase for the outcomes of a recently completed compensation market study. Additionally, the town has budgeted an overall 5% increase in wage adjustments for current staff, which allows for a combination of 1% to 5% merit increases and other rate adjustments to provide competitive pay.
The recommended operational budget for 2025 municipal services is $74.5 million, an increase of 5.1% from the 2024 amended budget. Public Safety comprises 26.3% of municipal spending, followed by Transit and Parking at 17.8%, Public Works functions at 17.5%, Administration/Risk Management at 10.3%, and Contributions and Events at 5.8%. As a service organization, most municipal services are spent on staffing. For 2025, this represents $47.7 million, or approximately 64% of the city services budget. The townโs proposed staffing level is 354.6 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions, representing an increase of 3.6 FTEs.
The 2025 proposed budget is funded by a projected $132.5 million net revenue budget. Excluding one-time revenues, net revenues totaled $103.1 million, representing a 5.2% decrease from the 2024 forecast and a 1.5% decrease from 2023 actuals due to a projected decrease in investment earnings and grant funding. Revenues are projected conservatively and reflect an observed decrease in the price inflation rate and a continued normalization in visitation.
The townโs primary funding source is sales tax, accounting for 32% of all revenues. 2025 sales tax collections are conservatively projected at $42.1 million, up 0.9% from the 2024 forecast. Sales tax revenues are split, with 62% going to the townโs General Fund and 38% to the Capital Projects Fund. Other major revenue sources for the General Fund include projections of $8.1 million in property tax based on county valuation, $9 million in parking revenues, and $6.9 million from the lift tax. In addition, the RETT Fund is expected to collect $7.7 million, which is down 3.8% from the 2024 forecast; housing sales tax revenues for the Housing Fund are projected at $5.2 million, up 1% from 2024; and construction use tax collections for the Capital Projects Fund are expected at $2.2 million.
General Fund reserves are projected at $32.8 million by the end of 2025, excluding the $5 million proposed to be set aside annually for future parking structure reconstruction. This represents 53% of annual revenues and is above the 25% minimum required by the Town Council as a budgetary policy. Capital Projects Fund reserves are projected to be $5.2 million, above the minimum of 25% of capital projects sales tax revenues, and reserves in the Real Estate Transfer Tax Fund are projected to be $8.2 million, above the minimum of $2 million. Town-wide reserves are projected to be $56.4 million at the end of 2025.
Programs supporting the five key goals include:
Create a strong community and create affordable housing opportunitiesย
- West Middle Creek development placeholder – $10 million
- Buydown housing placeholder – $2.3 million
- Habitat for Humanity community housing contribution for Timber Ridge units – $2 million
- Vail InDeed Program – $1.5 million
- Housing compliance software – $35,000
- Childcare program funding placeholder – $551,000
- Healthcare and childcare resource promotion – $8,000
- Dobson Arena Renovation – $50.4 million
- Transfers to the Destination Marketing Organization for special event funding – $2.7 million
- Design of South Frontage Road pedestrian improvements – $250,000
- Car share program operations and infrastructure placeholder – $155,000
- Expanded Sole Power program to include transit – $57,500
- Geothermal Energy System Placeholder – $1.5 million
- Gore Creek Pesticide Campaign – $50,000
- Gore Creek Streambank Mitigation – $140,000
- Zero Hero Waste Program Support – $38,800
