NEDERLAND - Since the news broke of the Town of Nederland’s idea to acquire the Eldora ski area, affiliates across the state have taken notice. Certain parties have expressed their interest in the prospect of investing, or even partnering, and speculation about every conceivable aspect of this Idea of a Concept of a Plan has spread across different media platforms all over Colorado.

Here in Nederland, residents have reached out to Town staff and to the Board of Trustees (BOT) to voice their support or opposition; but the most “vocal” have been typing away on the community social media page, NedHeads. 

Many share the Town’s vision of a locals-focused recreational asset, and have expressed excitement at the potential for strengthened support of local businesses, summer activities, and an economic surplus that could bolster Town services and infrastructure. 

On the other hand, the complicated logistics of such a venture is causing many to question whether Town officials are prepared for the reality of it, as many share a common belief that the Nederland government has a tendency to distract themselves from urgent necessities with “pie-in-the-sky” ideas. 

But as the situation progresses, the idea is fleshed out, and options and opportunities begin to reveal themselves, it has become more likely that maybe Nederland can have its pie and eat it too.

“We’re getting to some decision points now,” Town Administrator Jonathan Cain told The Mountain-Ear over the holiday weekend. “We’re not committed to anything yet, but we’ve identified a path forward and there is some work that needs to happen to really make sure that all the pieces align, and that it’s a good responsible decision for Nederland.”  

Since November 14, 2024, when Cain, Mayor Billy Giblin, and Mayor Pro Tem Nichole Sterling first announced in The Mountain-Ear the Town’s intentions to make a bid for Eldora, there has been a lot of theorizing, from both public and media, on whether the idea is viable or at all fiscally responsible. 

Questions of who is going to manage the mountain and how it is going to be managed have circulated around the community, as have concerns about whether Eldora is currently profitable and how climate change may impact it. 

Also during this time, Town officials have been conducting research, holding meetings, and engaging in conversations that originally arose from the Town announcing this idea and have since propelled Nederland into being considered a serious suitor for Eldora. The result has been receiving an invitation into the very real bidding process.

Cain, Giblin, and Sterling, representing the Town, have since spoken with the Colorado Governor’s office, both the outgoing and incoming state Representatives, several grant agencies, Boulder and Gilpin County representatives, and with the City of Boulder.

“The local government agencies we talked to are generally curious and waiting to see how things proceed,” Mayor Giblin said. “I'd say their level of support remains to be seen from how things progress with our pursuit of acquiring Eldora.”

These Nederland representatives understand that in order to be taken seriously when pulling up their seat to the table, and to solidify their idea into actuality, they need to at least identify a sensible method for managing the asset; one that is fiscally sound while also fitting the ideals of the community, and hits closest to that dream of a sustainable ski mountain. 

“The only real feasible path forward is for us to take a revenue bond, which is created from what is called an enterprise fund,” Cain explained. “We think this will align with the goals of the community as it will run separately from the rest of the Town. It would have its own revenue, its own expenditures, would be operated professionally, and run like a business.” 

Project-based Revenue Bonds are defined by the National Association of Bond Lawyers as being “secured by the revenues derived from a specific enterprise, system, or facility, such as a utility system, hospital, toll bridge, transportation facility, or higher education system. There is no pledge of the general taxing power of the Issuer should the enterprise, system, or facility fail to generate sufficient revenues to pay Debt Service.”

The Town firmly believes that Eldora is financially sustainable enough to cover the debt, though due to the Nondisclosure Agreements (NDA) the Town has with their potential operating partner, neither the amount of the debt, nor the identity of the potential partner, can be released to the public at this time.

“We are subject to an NDA, so we just can’t say everything right now, but we do want to be as transparent as we can be,” Giblin said assuredly.

“This does involve taking debt, but not against the Town,” Cain divulged. “We’d create an enterprise fund for Eldora and we would take the bond based on the revenue of Eldora, so it doesn’t negatively impact our General Fund, our ability to pay for future infrastructure upgrades, to pay for water and wastewater.

The Bell Policy Center, a Denver-based nonprofit economic mobility organization, defined Enterprise Funds in 2019 as “a specific type of ‘state-owned business’ authorized by the Colorado Constitution under the Taxpayers Bill of Rights.” 

A legal enterprise fund must be a government-owned business that is financially independent of the state or local government; can only receive up to 10% of its annual revenue from state and local government grants combined; and must have the bulk of its revenue come from user fees.

According to the 2019 report, “there are more than a dozen enterprise funds in Colorado that have a total revenue of $17.9 billion.” Some of the largest revenues coming from Colorado’s enterprise funds are from higher education enterprises and the state lottery. 

An enterprise fund does have bonding authority, so it can take on a certain amount of debt, determined by the projected revenue of the operation’s user fees.

“This is exactly how our water and sewer funds are set up in Nederland, so we’re already used to this structure, but now we’re applying it to this recreation asset,” Sterling said.

“Idaho Springs’ Parks revenue is an enterprise fund; most water and sewer funds in Colorado are,” Caid added. “Also, any municipal-owned golf courses and recreational facilities that have user fees are typically run through an enterprise fund for this same reason.

“But because of how Eldora has been historically operated, and, even though there can be ebb and flow, the predictability of their revenue patterns can be used to identify that the revenue being generated is enough to pay for its operation and for that debt.”

Though the Town is currently restricted from disclosing the ski mountain’s financial details due to its position in the bidding process, Mayor Pro Tem Sterling explicitly said, “we can state that Eldora is profitable.” 

In addition to the Town’s belief that the recreational asset’s profits can more than sustain itself, there is also an expectation for the enterprise fund method to generate support for the Town’s needs while simultaneously protecting the Town’s financial stability.

“In terms of ways to limit the Town’s exposure, this is the best possible way, because it results in the Town owning the asset with very limited financial issue,” Cain said. “You never want to default on anything, but were the worst case thing to happen we would still own the asset; it’s not like defaulting on a mortgage.

“Essentially, if Eldora is not paying for itself it would be a matter of the investors voting to raise the rates, or considering this or that, but they wouldn’t be able to take the asset away or be able to say, ‘Well, Nederland, we’re taking Town Hall.’”

“One of the things that I really like about it as well is that if you have excess funds after we pay our debt obligation we could move those into the General Fund and use those for other things that we need,” Sterling mentioned.

“In due time there could be the potential for enough revenue coming from this that the Town does have some of the things that people want, or think we’re forgoing in sake of Eldora,” Giblin said. “This opportunity could really help pay for a lot of these things that people want over the long haul.”

It was clarified that the type of revenue bond Nederland plans to use can not be used for infrastructure needs, like a general obligation bond or other municipal bonds.

“We can’t take the same bond to go and pay for a sidewalk because a sidewalk does not create predictable revenue,” Sterling continued.

“The same with grants. If we pull grants in order to pay for part of the Eldora purchase price, these aren’t the same grants that you can turn around and build a sidewalk with.”  

Nederland being considered as a real prospective bidder allows the Town to conduct its process of diligence, permitting them to audit all aspects of Eldora’s operations, including its financial performance, in order to determine if acquiring the ski mountain will help or hinder Nederland’s growth.

“We have a few days to look at the mountain, make sure we understand mechanically everything that’s happening, as well as financially, and what its capital expenses are in the future,” Cain explained. 

The Town representatives were sure to reiterate that Town staff will not be primarily responsible for conducting the diligence process, as they plan to put together a team of local industry professionals to lend their expertise.

“There are local folks in our community, in the Peak to Peak region, that have decades of experience running ski hills for the top resorts, and we think that we can have a partnership with a group like that,” Cain said.

“Now that there’s a viable path forward we will call those folks together and have the proper team to help us make this decision,” Sterling added. 

The Town has but a short window of time to gather their team and do their due diligence, despite how crucial the process is. However, the Town is handling this tight timeline with aplomb by expediently gathering their diligence team, and by preparing employment agreements for needed specialists that the BOT will review during their first meeting of the new year, on Tuesday, January 7, 2025.

“We need to hire an Employment Law expert,” Cain said.

“Someone to help us better figure out how to structure Eldora employees in a way that they could come under the umbrella of the Town,” Giblin added.

“And we need to hire a Bond Counsel, just so if we did this we fully understand the decision that we’re making,” Cain noted. “We don’t want any secrets or anything that can derail us in the future.”

After January 7, and after the diligence process has been completed, if the BOT determines that acquiring Eldora would be positive for the Town, then things will immediately start moving at a much quicker pace.   

As of the printing of this article, Nederland has until January 15 to place their final bid, which may require the BOT to have a special meeting on January 14 in order to review a financial plan if the Town cannot extend the deadline for final bids. 

According to Cain, a resolution regarding the revenue bond could come before Trustees as early as February 18, with the binding decision about the acquisition to possibly be made during the March 4 or March 18 meeting.

“We’re not being able to dictate the pace here, but we still have time to do all the pieces that we need,” Cain explained. “Doing something like this is different for a government than for a business, so we’re trying to make sure that we have plenty of time to talk to the community about everything but also keep moving so that we can stay in the game.”

Cain was sure to reiterate his dedication to hearing all community voices on this issue.

“If people want to come to Town Hall, want to meet me for coffee, or they want to call me or email me or whatever, I’m here for it,” Cain said passionately. “I understand that this is a really big decision and I want to make sure that it’s community-driven and that this is good for all of us.”

“Jon is up to about 20 cups of coffee a day, so if anyone else wants to have coffee with him we’re going to have to go to decaf,” Giblin joked. 

Just as one may let loose an off-handed suggestion that suddenly propels them into making that formless thought take shape, the Town is now on the very bureaucratic and logistical course towards manifesting their pie-in-the-sky dream into a reality.

As the processes of diligence and of developing potential management structures have been laid out upon this new road that the Town of Nederland finds itself on, it’s ever the more important at this juncture to remain true to that original vision, to that dream that has been considered attractive enough to have launched us to this moment.

“The alignment of ethos and what we can do together is much stronger than apart,” Cain said in regards to the Town’s relationship with Eldora, and about those who manage the mountain currently.

“They’re our neighbors, our friends, they support the community center when there’s a disaster, they serve on boards in town, they volunteer for different places, they’re the people we see at the grocery store, and for a lot of these folks it’s becoming increasingly difficult to live in Nederland,” Cain continued.

“One of the benefits of this is that we can build community in a really progressive way by recognizing how important Eldora is to us overall,” Cain added, as he excitedly listed the possibilities of local partnerships, recreational and nature programs for the youth, transportation and local transit improvements, opportunities for a training facility, potential for affordable housing and childcare resources, and the potential for summertime events, which Cain proclaimed the Town has the power to do.

“The potential partners we’ve talked to very much like this idea of a sustainable, local mountain; we wouldn’t move forward if our partners didn’t see the same values,” Sterling shared.

“This is a long term investment, and being able to do it through revenue bonds helps insulate and reduce the risk even more. Once we pay off our debt obligation, there’s potential to build out some of these infrastructure things that we fight tooth and nail to try and get grants for,” Sterling concluded.

“Yes, there are still some things that we don’t know, but we’re making decisions from a resiliency standpoint and we will continue to figure these things out as we go by remaining open, curious, and creative about how we get there. That’s what we’re trying to do for the legacy of Nederland.”

The BOT will discuss the Employment Agreements for an Employment Law consultant and Bond Counsel on Tuesday, January 7, 2025, at 7 p.m. Meetings can be attended in person at the Nederland Community Center or online via Microsoft Teams. 

For more information on upcoming meeting times and agendas, go to: https://townofnederland.colorado.gov/board-of-trustees.

To submit an email to the Board of Trustees, go to: https://townofnederland.colorado.gov/contact-a-board-or-commission.

To send your questions, comments, or concerns directly the Town Administrator Jonathan Cain, email: TownAdmin@nederlandco.org.