There is a hidden agenda underlying the move to require several IVGID facilities to recover 100% of operating costs with user fees: to operate like businesses. At the 7/12/23 Board meeting, Trustees Schmitz, Dent, and Tulloch took shots at a lot of FAQ paper tigers, and made a big show of not understanding what the IVGID Model stood for, and why many of us see their recent actions as a threat to this Model. There is no mystery to the IVGID model. The statutes in NV that underlie General Improvement Districts lead with the stated purpose: GIDs “will serve a public use and will promote the health, safety, prosperity, security and general welfare of the inhabitants thereof”. For many years, IVGID has used the Recreation Fees and the Beach Fees to subsidize the operation of IVGID facilities and amenities, and one reason for these subsidies was to keep user fees low for ALL the residents and property owners of Incline Village and Crystal Bay, thus improving the ‘general welfare of ALL the inhabitants’.
These Trustees also claimed, at the 7/11 Board meeting, that eliminating the Rec fee did not affect funding for future planned Capital investments, which were fully funded’. Thus, there was no impact on property values. However, where is the allocated funding for renovation of SnowFlake Lodge, and repairs of Ski Road and the Chateau. How about squeezing down the budget for the Beach House, ignoring the cost of a Dedicated Dog Park, failing to allocate funds to finish the Bike Park, upending the renovation of the Recreation Center, downplaying the need for repairs and improvements of the Tennis center and courts, etc. With $14M in excess reserves, why not use these funds to eliminate the need to increase user fees for all our amenities for all our residents, and jump start all these other desirable projects? These Trustees want to do things on the cheap, and that is not what this community is about.
These discounts for our residents, especially those living on fixed income, middle income wage earners, and most employees of the District, allow these residents to enjoy these amenities far more often than they might otherwise. It also enabled IVGID to build, upgrade, operate, and maintain the best possible facilities we could. In exchange, this investment provided a great return to the property owners and local businesses who paid these fees. This was the IVGID Model, until these three Trustees became a majority on the Board.
If the overall goal is to rip the heart out of IVGID staff and management to
eliminate resistance to this plan and undermine the operations of our facilities to justify outsourcing or selling off these amenities (using ‘transparency’ and
efficiency and elimination of subsidies and the Rec Fee as a rationale), we may as well abandon the entire General Improvement District. It’s a hidden agenda with a slippery slope these Trustees will never own up to.
This article was originally posted by the folks at Invest In Incline and was republished to the Incline Together website with their permission.