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Colorado - Wed. 02/19/25 |
A Free Business Publication from Alpine Bank
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COLORADO TO BEGIN PROCESSING INDIVIDUAL TAX RETURNS THIS WEEK
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The Colorado Dept. of Revenue anticipates it will begin processing individual tax filings this week after a delayed rollout of e-filing for the 2025 tax season. As of Tuesday, the Dept. of Revenue’s website still said that the “2024 return links for individual income tax, fiduciary income tax, and business income tax are coming soon. Please check in early February 2025.” The department typically begins accepting state tax returns by late January. But this year, it has been working to implement 26 major changes to the tax code, said Derek Kuhn, a department spokesperson. “We are taking lessons learned from this iteration so that we can be as efficient as possible next year,” he said.
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COPPER MOUNTAIN TO HOST FOUR DAYS OF WORLD CUP SKIING IN NOVEMBER
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For the first time in 24 years, and only the fourth time ever, Copper Mountain will host World Cup ski racing this November, just nine weeks before the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy. Four days of racing will begin on Thanksgiving Day. The women will race slalom and giant slalom, which happen to be the best events for Colorado native Mikaela Shiffrin, the winningest World Cup racer in history. The men will race giant slalom and super-G. In 1976, the men and women raced slalom and giant slalom three weeks after the Innsbruck Winter Olympics, where Germany’s Rosi Mittermaier won three medals. Mittermaier then won both women’s races at Copper, which subsequently named the slope where she competed “Rosi’s Run,” a name it still holds.
On two other occasions, Copper Mountain stepped in to host November women’s slalom and giant slalom World Cup races after resorts that had been scheduled to host those races lacked suitable snow conditions for racing. In 1999, Copper took races that had been scheduled for Park City, Utah. Two years later, it stepped in for Aspen. The week following the Copper Mountain races, the men will race at Beaver Creek, which has been a regular stop for men’s downhill, super-G and giant slalom since 1997.
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PLAN FOR VENDORS TO SELL & INSTALL TIRE CHAINS ALONG MOUNTAIN HWYS.
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Colorado is poised to begin allowing private companies to station crews at designated areas along Interstate 70 and other mountain highways who can offer to sell, install and remove tire chains and other tire-traction devices on tractor trailers and passenger vehicles for a fee. The program would be created through Senate Bill 69, a bipartisan measure that represents the Colorado legislature’s latest effort to prevent panic-attack-inducing winter travel hangups in the high country. The legislation is modeled after a similar initiative in Washington that has been in operation for roughly 20 years. Oregon and California also allow similar third-party vendors to help motorists install and remove chains.
- All commercial vehicles traveling through Colorado’s high country are required to carry chains from Sept. 1 to May 31. They must use those chains when the state’s chain law is in effect.
- Two-wheel drive passenger vehicles traveling through the high country must carry chains or other tire-traction devices, like snow socks, for two or more drive tires from Sept. 1 through May 31. The chains or traction devices must be used when the passenger vehicle traction law is in effect.
- If passenger vehicles don’t have chains or traction devices, they must have tires with a tread depth of at least 3/16-inch and which are rated for either “all weather” or “mud and snow.”
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PARTICIPATION LOW FOR ASPEN-PITKIN COUNTY HOUSING AUTHORITY SURVEY
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Results from an Aspen-Pitkin County Housing Authority community survey show low participation, according to a Tuesday presentation. The survey, launched in December 2024, sought community input on APCHA’s five-year strategic plan. Housing officials reported during a Tuesday community forum in Aspen, however, that the survey received just 291 responses. John Dougherty, principal of Human Service Innovations, the consulting firm leading the planning process, suggested the low participation could be attributed to the survey being conducted during the holiday season. The survey was open for five weeks, with direct mailers to slightly more than 3,000 APCHA residents, email outreach to renters and owners, and public advertising. The current five-year plan is available for review at apcha.org.
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MESA COUNTY TO USE GRANT FUNDING TO IMPROVE, STUDY ROAD SAFETY
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The Mesa County Board of County Commissioners approved a memorandum of agreement at its Tuesday meeting that will allow it to move forward with implementing a road safety plan it adopted last year. Mesa County, Grand Junction, Palisade and Fruita collaborated on the Mesa County Safety Action Plan. Now the parties have received a grant from the Federal Highway Administration that will help them put that plan in action to improve road safety in the county. The plan includes speed feedback signs to inform drivers of their speed compared to the posted speed limit. Peterson said they would also pursue education and outreach study to help inform drivers of changes in the law and ways to safely commute. Additionally, the grant will help the partners hire a consultant to perform a high-risk network study that will identify problem areas within the county road network.
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RATHBONE HOTEL EARNS PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD FROM HISTORY COLORADO
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The Rathbone Hotel, in downtown Montrose, was recently chosen to receive History Colorado’s People's Choice Award for the hotel developer’s dedication to preserving the building’s historical heritage. The award will be presented during History Colorado’s Stephen H. Hart Awards celebration on April 2, when only five projects in Colorado will be honored. The Rathbone Hotel is commonly known as the Knights of Pythias Building, or KP Building. The KP Building, a massive three-story yellow-brick building, featuring a central parapet with a concrete-trimmed “KP Building” name plaque on the west façade, is one of the oldest remaining brick structures in Montrose. The Knights of Pythias, a fraternal organization founded in 1864 by Justus Henry Rathbone in Washington, DC, has had a chapter in Montrose since the 19th century. The city officially added the KP Building to the city’s historic register on Nov. 1, 2022.
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LA NIÑA DEPARTS
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The La Niña weather pattern is in retreat, and the 8-to-14-day precipitation outlook released by the national Climate Prediction Center Feb. 17 shows Western Colorado with near-normal chances of precipitation. “We have one more round of snow slated for later this week,” meteorologist Kate Abbott, in the National Weather Service’s Grand Junction office, said Tuesday. By “we,” Abbott was referring to "this whole region." “The snow will be confined to the high peaks. The best chance for an inch or two arrives Thursday and Friday. After that, high-pressure, bringing warmer and drier conditions, settles in for the foreseeable future. At least through next Tuesday and probably through the rest of next week,” Abbott added.
On the other hand, March is just around the corner, which marks the beginning of Colorado’s two snowiest months (the other is April). Perhaps just as significantly, La Niña, which is typified by higher temperatures and drier conditions in the southwestern U.S., is in retreat: the national Climate Prediction Center announced Feb. 13 that there is a 66 percent chance of transitioning to a more neutral climate pattern from March to May.
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SAFETY WORK CAUSED FOUR AVALANCHES TO COVER I-70
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The Colorado Dept. of Transportation says it safely triggered and cleared nine avalanche paths along the Interstate 70 mountain corridor following a busy holiday weekend that saw successive snowstorms. Crews closed I-70 between Silverthorne and the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnels Tuesday morning to conduct the avalanche mitigation work. Four avalanche paths from that operation released debris into I-70 lanes.
Crews also performed winter maintenance operations on Vail Pass between Exit 180 to East Vail and Exit 195 to Copper Mountain. Crews triggered five avalanches during their work. One of the mitigated slides reached the interstate and was as much as 4 feet deep and 175 feet in length. Every winter, the transportation department works with the Colorado Avalanche Information Center to monitor and control 278 of 522 known avalanche paths along Colorado highways. Ski areas along the I-70 mountain corridor reported more than 1.5 feet of snow in 48 hours and close to 4 feet of snow in the past seven days.
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SELLING ONLINE? YOU MAY RECEIVE A FORM 1099-K
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Did you get a Form 1099-K (Payment Card and Third Party Network Transactions) in the mail? You should have received one from each platform on which you sold more than $5,000 in goods or services, regardless of the number of transactions, in 2024. Form 1099-K is new for many taxpayers because the previous threshold for receiving it was annual receipts of over $20,000 and 200 transactions. The threshold is scheduled to fall further for 2025 sales (over $2,500) and 2026 sales (over $600) as part of a gradual phase-in period. These changes are intended to improve the accuracy of reported income. Be sure to provide your tax preparer with any 1099-Ks you receive. For more information about Form 1099-K visit the IRS’s information page, https://bit.ly/3CRRv6I.
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ASPEN RETAIL SALES HIT $1.3 BILLION IN 2024
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The city of Aspen’s sales tax report for all of 2024 show $1.3 billion went into the local economy through people staying at hotels, dining out, shopping and spending money in other ways. The report, issued Tuesday, showed the city collected $31.1 million through its 2.4 percent sales tax last year. Consumers pay an aggregate sales tax rate of 9.3 percent at the point of sale. That includes 3.6 percent toward Pitkin County, of which the city collects a portion, 2.9 percent to the state of Colorado and 0.4 percent to the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority. The grand total for overall sales in 2024 was $1,304,108,933. The amount reflected a 6 percent increase over $1,230,492,169 in taxable sales in 2023.
Here is how 2024 ended up for Aspen’s business sectors where sales taxes are levied:
- Accommodations: $354,819,567, up 4 percent from 2023
- Restaurants/bars: $209,238,412, up 5 percent
- Sports equipment/clothing: $71,319,856, down 3 percent
- Fashion clothing: $171,192,885, up 12 percent
- Construction: $74,455,980, down 11 percent
- Food and drug: $80,419,794, up 3 percent
- Liquor: $11,476,227, down 5 percent
- Miscellaneous: $136,927,183, up 18 percent
- Jewelry/gallery: $95,745,691, up 46 percent
- Utilities: $48,576,798, down 5 percent
- Automobile: $33,663,654, down 6 percent
- Marijuana: $6,623,851, down 15 percent
- Bank/finance: $4,718,415, down 5 percent
- Health/beauty: $4,930,619, down 39 percent
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DENVER AIRPORT REVEALS NEW LOOK
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Denver International Airport CEO Phil Washington said Tuesday he is confident the construction project at DIA will be completed by December 2027. That's up to a year earlier than estimates from the Denver Auditor's Office, although it still brings the airport's total construction time on Great Hall projects to close to 10 years. After Washington revealed renderings of what the main Jeppesen Terminal will look like once construction is complete in two years, he outlined preparations for what he calls "Project 2045" — the year when officials believe DIA will see 120 million annual passengers. Washington divided the ongoing updates at the main terminal into three main areas: The "Global Gateway" on the north side of the fifth level where international passengers arrive, "Welcome Home Colorado" at the center of the fifth level where domestic passengers arrive, and the "Living Room," the space formerly filled with security lanes also on the fifth level.
- The Living Room is the focal point of renovations, with added seating, an elevated food court, a bar, room for live entertainment, a large message board with arrivals and RTD information, sensory areas to escape noise and lights, and a 60-foot-tall Cottonwood tree sculpture at the center.
- On the side of the Global Gateway, travelers can expect to see the airport's public art brought out of storage and new pieces brought in. The space will feature a Jeppesen statue and eight added security lanes.
- In the space dedicated to Welcome Home Colorado, passengers can expect more seating, a centralized information booth and added concessions.
- In all, the renovation of security lanes on the East and West sides of the terminal, in addition to the 12 extra lanes on the fifth level, will increase DIA's security lane count from 34 to 46. The new security equipment, which is up and running at the West security checkpoint and expected to be open on the East side this August, moves about 240 people per hour per lane, compared to about 140 people with the old equipment.
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FOUR COLORADO HOTELS AMONG THE BEST IN THE U.S.
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Some Colorado hotels have climbed higher in this year's U.S. News & World Report top 100 ranking, including a famed mountain destination that rose into the top five. Aspen's The Little Nell took the No. 1 spot for the best hotel in Colorado and ranked in the top five in the U.S. at No. 5. The Little Nell also came in at No. 4 in a ranking of the U.S.'s best resorts. Last year, The Little Nell ranked as the No. 2 hotel in Colorado and No. 22 across the country.
Telluride's Madeline Hotel & Residences ranked at No. 57 nationally and No. 3 in Colorado. It also earned a spot in the top 100 resorts in the U.S. at No. 30. Vail’s Sonnenalp hotel also clinched a top 100 spot in the national ranking, coming in at No. 77, and No. 4 in Colorado. It came in at No. 35 in the U.S.'s best resorts. Last year, the Vail hotel ranked No. 165 in national rankings and No. 7 in Colorado.
Top 10 hotels in Colorado, according to the U.S. News & World Report rankings:
- The Little Nell, in Aspen (No. 5 in the U.S.)
- The Broadmoor, in Colorado Springs (No. 19 in the U.S.)
- Madeline Hotel & Residences, in Telluride (No. 57 in the U.S.)
- Sonnenalp, in Vail (No. 77 in the U.S.)
- Viceroy Snowmass, in Snowmass Village (No. 132 best hotel in the U.S., No. 60 best resort in the U.S.)
- Four Seasons Hotel Denver, in Denver (No. 189 in the U.S.)
- The Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch, in Avon (No. 191 best hotel in the U.S., No. 88 best resort in the U.S.)
- Hotel Jerome Auberge Resorts, in Aspen (No. 215 best hotel in the U.S., No. 93 best resort in the U.S.)
- Park Hyatt Beaver Creek, in Beaver Creek (No. 218 best hotel in the U.S., No. 95 best resort in the U.S.)
- Grand Hyatt Vail, in Vail (No. 232 in the U.S.)
The top ten hotels by city rankings in Denver were:
- Four Seasons Hotel Denver
- The Ritz-Carlton Denver
- Hotel Clio
- The Oxford Hotel
- The Maven Hotel at Dairy Block
- Limelight Hotel Denver
- The Crawford Hotel
- Halcyon - A Hotel in Cherry Creek
- Thompson Denver
- The Rally Hotel at McGregor Square
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MARKET UPDATE - 02/18/2025 Close
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(Courtesy of Alpine Bank Wealth Management*)
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Canadian dollar (per U.S. dollar)
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Mexican peso (per U.S. dollar)
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30-year fixed mortgage rate (Freddie Mac 02/13/2025)
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*Not FDIC insured. May lose value. Not guaranteed by the bank.
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Alpine Bank is an independent, employee-owned organization with headquarters in Glenwood Springs and banking offices across Colorado's Western Slope, mountains and Front Range. Alpine Bank serves customers with retail, business, wealth management*, mortgage and electronic banking services. Learn more at alpinebank.com.
*Alpine Bank Wealth Management services are not FDIC insured, may lose value and are not guaranteed by the bank.
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