After months of deliberation and several meetings, the Snowmass City Council approved its 2025 budget.

The council voted unanimously Wednesday to budget $169.3 million for the year, with an emphasis on workforce housing, infrastructure projects and employee benefits. Last year, they budgeted $93 million.

The city plans to spend $123 million on new infrastructure and housing projects, representing last year’s budget increase, according to a budget message released in October by Snowmass City Manager Clint Kinney and Snowmass Finance Director , Marianne Rakowski.

In the budget, the city included the Draw Site, a plan to build a 79-unit workforce housing project adjacent and uphill from City Hall, as one of the most notable capital projects in the budget.

“I think we have some (really) interesting opportunities in housing,” said Snowmass Council member Susan Marolt. “I think our city, our county, everyone across the valley realizes that housing is something that can solve a lot of problems.”

The city will allocate $3 million per year from sales and lodging tax revenues over a 30-year period to pay for the $86 million project. They will also fund it with grants and rental income. Initially, they will borrow the financing.

Snowmass voters in Tuesday’s election approved the city’s request to spend $86 million on the site.

“Allocating those dollars and getting voters to approve the lottery site is a big step forward,” Snowmass Mayor Bill Madsen told The Aspen Times on Thursday.

Along with the lottery site, Snowmass plans to purchase three acres behind the Snowmass Center for $12.5 million to use as workforce housing. They still have to get approval to use the land before purchasing.

The city also budgeted money for major non-housing capital improvements. They allocated $8.5 million to fund the renovation of the Little Red Schoolhouse, which is currently used for child care. They are seeking to increase the capacity of the building, so that it can accommodate 60 children instead of 30, as is currently the case.

The city allocated $3 million to renovate the Snowmass Center, which could include a small renovation of existing bus stations or the creation of an entirely new transit center, according to previous council meetings. They also plan to replace the road and culvert at Upper Woodbridge Road and Brush Creek Road in 2025, allocating $2.75 million to the project in next year’s budget.

Along with housing and infrastructure projects, Snowmass increased spending on personnel, including salaries, benefits and retirement funds, among other employee-related items. The 2025 budget allocates $18.5 million to staff, nearly 11% of the total budget and approximately a 4% increase over the 2024 budget.

Snowmass Mayor Bill Madsen said the focus on staff in this year’s budget is a good community investment.

“My constant mantra has been: the best way to take care of our village is to take care of the people who work there,” Madsen said. “And so it’s a very good investment in our community to try to take care of the characters in our community.”

Snowmass City Manager Clint Kinney said the city is focused on offering competitive salaries to retain high-quality staff.

“We are in a service industry and we need people to provide the services that we provide and therefore we need to make sure we are competitive in the marketplace,” Kinney said. “I want to continue recruiting and retaining the highest quality staff, as we have been doing.”

You can contact Skyler Stark-Ragsdale at 970-429-9152 or email her at [email protected].