The high-profile competition among six projects vying for funding under the state’s Regional Tourism Act has left many people — including the applicants — scratching their heads as they seek to understand how the selection process will work.
Legislation allowing for RTA funding did not specify a process for awarding it. The state Economic Development Commission on Friday laid out the process and timeline for selecting two projects to receive up to a combined $50 million a year in state sales-tax rebates.
Responsibility for determining which projects qualify for incentives under the new law will fall to the state’s economic development chief.
Ken Lund, executive director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, will review the six applications and listen to public comment at meetings April 10 and 23.
Applicants will be given an opportunity to provide input at the April 23 meeting.
“My goal is to build a process that’s transparent and credible,” Lund said. “I want to go through it very carefully. I want to hear from all the applicants and the public comments.”
On May 11, Lund will make a recommendation to the Economic Development Commission, a panel of nine businessmen from throughout the state, on which projects, if any, qualify for funding.
The panel will approve or deny the applications May 18.
Lund’s office sent the six applications for RTA funding to the communities surrounding the proposed projects for their review Friday.
The communities have 30 days to respond. The application from Aurora, for example, was sent to Adams County and Denver, among others.
“(The RTA) is a very important piece of economic development,” said attorney Howard Gelt, a member of the commission. “We’re waiting for the responses from the surrounding communities and a public hearing before any decision gets made.”
The applicants include Aurora, for a proposed 1,500-room hotel and conference center; Douglas County, for a prehistoric archaeological museum and sports complex; Glendale, for an outdoor riverwalk entertainment complex; Pueblo, for a downtown riverwalk area that would include a bull-riding training center and an expanded convention center; Estes Park, to redevelop and renovate Elkhorn Lodge and build a 50-acre, year-round adventure park; and Montrose County, which is proposing 141 tourism and commercial projects.
The state’s analyst, Economic & Planning Systems Inc., found that all the applicants overestimated the number of new visitors their projects would bring to Colorado and, as a result, the amount of tax-increment financing they’re eligible for.
The applicants are questioning the EPS analyses, saying they can’t all be wrong. But now it’s up to the Economic Development Commission to interpret the legislation to determine who is correct.
“The essence of this is that what we’re supposed to evaluate is what is the net new sales-tax revenue coming in from out of state,” said Don Elliman, a commission member. “The other thing is the ‘but for,’ meaning if we don’t give them some form of RTA, they’re not going to do the project. It’s going to be a very difficult discussion and difficult decision-making process.”
Margaret Jackson: 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com
