Town plays beat the clock to acquire the Valley Floor
By Douglas McDaniel
Imagine having one month to come up with $15 million. Who would you contact? What would you say?
I need a few million, fast? And tell your rich friends the same?
With the Town apparently unwilling to appeal or attempt to set aside the decision by the Delta County jury that awarded the San Miguel Valley Corporation $50 million for the condemnation of the Valley Floor, Telluride officials are hoping the various fund raising efforts will complete the pricey proposition of getting $15 million in private donations by March 15.
Tuesday, Feb. 20, the first community meeting since the Delta jury rendered its judgment in favor of the SMVC’s $50 appraisal, as opposed to the Town’s $26 million figure, the Telluride Town Council had an unprecedented number of issues on its table.
And just as the council discussed what to do about what Mayor John Pryor called a “disappointing” outcome to the Final Valuation Trial in Delta last week, San Miguel County District Court Judge Charles Greenacre made that day, Feb. 20, the official date of entry for the judgment.
This means that due to the statutory requirement of 8 percent interest on the $50 million due the San Miguel Valley Corporation, it’s costing the Town $330,000 per month, $11,000 a day, $458 per hour, $7.60 per minute, 13 cents per second, until the jury award is paid in full.
The rush to get the Town’s 20 million bonding mechanism in place, and timed with the collection of nearly $15 million in private donations, will result in the Town accruing interest on the public debt at a variable rate of approximately four percent: cutting the interest rate portion of the debt in half.
But now the conundrum rests in the what-comes-first, the-chicken-or-the-egg situation the Town finds itself in.
“We are not going to issue the public debt until we have all of the money,” Pryor said.
With grim resignation council members said an appeal would return the issue into the realm of uncertainty; and in that realm, the Town has already been “surprised,” as the Mayor put it.
Town Attorney Kevin Geiger told those in attendance that the Town’s legal representation in the trial, Leslie Fields, considered making a motion to set aside the verdict because it “was not consistent with the evidence.”
However, Town officials are in no mood to return to the courtroom for another trial against such a formidable foe basking in a booming real estate market. Especially considering that, as Geiger noted, during the trial a recent sale was entered into the record of $5.6 million for a 35-acre-parcel on Sunnyside East, just north of the Valley Floor. If that sale were applied to the 14-parcel alternative the Town was looking at, the price tag would be nearly $80 million, Geiger said.
Better, the council members agreed, to swallow the bitter pill and move forward.
“There is certainty for the first time,” Pryor said. “If you can come up with $50 million: That certainty is valuable.”
The other council members agreed.
“For the easy way out of this, we should come up with the money,” said Council member Bob Saunders. “If we can do that, then it’s done, and we don’t have higher costs.”
Council Member Mark Buchsieb was even more direct.
“Get the money and get it over with,” he said. Then, refuting a comment during the meeting that the Town should drop the entire attempt to condemn the Valley Floor because it was “pissing away” municipal funds, Buchsieb responded that the council is morally obligated to represent the will of the voting public.
“If it’s peeing it away, it’s peeing it away, but they chose to do it,” he said.
Town officials are looking to the Valley Floor Advisory Board, which is heading up various fund raising efforts, such as the Valley Floor Preservation Partners, to put the Valley Floor War to an end.
So far, the outlook is optimistic, according to Jane Hickcox, Valley Floor Advisory Board spokeswoman.
“It’s very exciting and I’m very encouraged,” Hickcox told the Town Council on Tuesday.
As of the date of the verdict, Feb. 16, she said the Valley Floor Preservation Partners had received $8.1 million in donations from the private sector.
“That represents checks coming from 72 cities in 23 states,” she said.
But after a mind-boggling weekend and one business day of trying to digest the verdict and take action, that figure had increased to $9.2 million. Hickcox said fund raising effort was working hard to get as many matching donations as possible to reach the $15 million figure.
“Our matching funds could reach that quite quickly,” she said.
At the same time, there is also the more harried urgency of the moment, as all of the members of the grass roots effort are burning the midnight oil to bring in donors, especially wealthy donors. As Hickcox said, “This is what a 60-year-old fundraiser looks like with very little sleep.”
Imagine having one month to come up with $15 million. Who would you contact? What would you say?
I need a few million, fast? And tell your rich friends the same?
With the Town apparently unwilling to appeal or attempt to set aside the decision by the Delta County jury that awarded the San Miguel Valley Corporation $50 million for the condemnation of the Valley Floor, Telluride officials are hoping the various fund raising efforts will complete the pricey proposition of getting $15 million in private donations by March 15.
Tuesday, Feb. 20, the first community meeting since the Delta jury rendered its judgment in favor of the SMVC’s $50 appraisal, as opposed to the Town’s $26 million figure, the Telluride Town Council had an unprecedented number of issues on its table.
And just as the council discussed what to do about what Mayor John Pryor called a “disappointing” outcome to the Final Valuation Trial in Delta last week, San Miguel County District Court Judge Charles Greenacre made that day, Feb. 20, the official date of entry for the judgment.
This means that due to the statutory requirement of 8 percent interest on the $50 million due the San Miguel Valley Corporation, it’s costing the Town $330,000 per month, $11,000 a day, $458 per hour, $7.60 per minute, 13 cents per second, until the jury award is paid in full.
The rush to get the Town’s 20 million bonding mechanism in place, and timed with the collection of nearly $15 million in private donations, will result in the Town accruing interest on the public debt at a variable rate of approximately four percent: cutting the interest rate portion of the debt in half.
But now the conundrum rests in the what-comes-first, the-chicken-or-the-egg situation the Town finds itself in.
“We are not going to issue the public debt until we have all of the money,” Pryor said.
With grim resignation council members said an appeal would return the issue into the realm of uncertainty; and in that realm, the Town has already been “surprised,” as the Mayor put it.
Town Attorney Kevin Geiger told those in attendance that the Town’s legal representation in the trial, Leslie Fields, considered making a motion to set aside the verdict because it “was not consistent with the evidence.”
However, Town officials are in no mood to return to the courtroom for another trial against such a formidable foe basking in a booming real estate market. Especially considering that, as Geiger noted, during the trial a recent sale was entered into the record of $5.6 million for a 35-acre-parcel on Sunnyside East, just north of the Valley Floor. If that sale were applied to the 14-parcel alternative the Town was looking at, the price tag would be nearly $80 million, Geiger said.
Better, the council members agreed, to swallow the bitter pill and move forward.
“There is certainty for the first time,” Pryor said. “If you can come up with $50 million: That certainty is valuable.”
The other council members agreed.
“For the easy way out of this, we should come up with the money,” said Council member Bob Saunders. “If we can do that, then it’s done, and we don’t have higher costs.”
Council Member Mark Buchsieb was even more direct.
“Get the money and get it over with,” he said. Then, refuting a comment during the meeting that the Town should drop the entire attempt to condemn the Valley Floor because it was “pissing away” municipal funds, Buchsieb responded that the council is morally obligated to represent the will of the voting public.
“If it’s peeing it away, it’s peeing it away, but they chose to do it,” he said.
Town officials are looking to the Valley Floor Advisory Board, which is heading up various fund raising efforts, such as the Valley Floor Preservation Partners, to put the Valley Floor War to an end.
So far, the outlook is optimistic, according to Jane Hickcox, Valley Floor Advisory Board spokeswoman.
“It’s very exciting and I’m very encouraged,” Hickcox told the Town Council on Tuesday.
As of the date of the verdict, Feb. 16, she said the Valley Floor Preservation Partners had received $8.1 million in donations from the private sector.
“That represents checks coming from 72 cities in 23 states,” she said.
But after a mind-boggling weekend and one business day of trying to digest the verdict and take action, that figure had increased to $9.2 million. Hickcox said fund raising effort was working hard to get as many matching donations as possible to reach the $15 million figure.
“Our matching funds could reach that quite quickly,” she said.
At the same time, there is also the more harried urgency of the moment, as all of the members of the grass roots effort are burning the midnight oil to bring in donors, especially wealthy donors. As Hickcox said, “This is what a 60-year-old fundraiser looks like with very little sleep.”
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