Letter; Heavenly needs to start charging sales tax on lift tickets

To the community: What would it take to get an initiative on the ballot asking the question: Shall there be a recreational tax on Heavenly lift tickets and Gondola tickets?"

This is item #10.10 within the South Lake Tahoe Redevelopment Agency contract. Please note that it says "Lift ticket sales" in several areas. Ticket sales for the Gondola for sightseers and summer do not access a lift. At a minimum, we should be able to tax those sales. South Lake Tahoe is the only major resort that Vail is operating in that does not have a lift ticket tax to help their community. Vail gets $4.5 Million, Breckenridge gets $3.5 Million. It is about time for Heavenly, and Vail, to step up and help the community rebuild the community they have ruined. The rules are already in place to tax lift ticket sales to include pass sales. The current debt in the area is about $60 Million. If what a council member says is true about our city's surplus money. We could pay the bond off and recoup our investment in less than 10 years. Come on Heavenly. Step up to the plate and do the right thing and help our and your community.

10.10 Lift Ticket Sales Within City. The Agency acknowledges that Heavenly Ski Resort’s historic lift ticket sales occur beyond the City limits. Lift ticket sales have not been subject to tax within the jurisdictions where the sale of Heavenly lift tickets occurs. In consideration of offering lift ticket sales within the City limits, the Agency and the City covenant and agree that the sale of lift tickets within the Redevelopment Project Area shall not be subject to any City imposed tax or assessment for so long as the Agency has long-term debt related to the Project outstanding without the consent of Heavenly Valley, which may be withheld for any reason whatsoever. Upon repayment of any long-term debt associated with the Development, the Agency and the City may, subject to compliance with normal procedure for imposing taxes, impose a lift ticket tax without Heavenly Valley’s consent.

- Kenny Curtzwiler, Meyers