Months after the last budget amendment, Silverthorne has once again told town departments to reduce their budgets following three business closures anticipated to impact the town’s tax revenue.

The news of town departments being asked to cut 5% of their already revised 2025 budgets prompted Silverthorne Town Council to discuss where the town’s business landscape is headed and if tourism should be treated differently by those adverse to it.

The request follows an April budget appropriation where millions of dollars in expenditures were cut to account for a downward trend in sales tax including an 8% dip year over year in January and an approximate 4.8% dip in February. 

Finance director Laura Kennedy said planned closures for two outlet stores, Williams Sonoma and Carter’s, and the Summit Ford dealership will likely result in a drop in revenue that could take the form of a 3% hit in the general fund.

A staff memo written for a July 23 meeting details the Summit Ford closure having the largest impact to the general fund. While automotive sales in Silverthorne are exempt from the town’s 2% sales tax, they aren’t exempt from the county’s 2% sales tax. The memo states because the dealership was located in Silverthorne, the county sales tax revenues were passed to the town and credited to 100% of the general fund. 

Kennedy said revenues are currently above what was budgeted for 2025 and expenses are below what was budgeted, and the change is just to ensure the town is in a good financial position for 2026. She also noted silver linings including a Holiday Inn Express under construction and another hotel planning to come to Silverthorne.

“This could get worse … If what’s going on across the river doesn’t seem to get better, as far as the outlets and these stores closing, if we lose three more, that’s another huge hit,” council member Tim Applegate said. 

Interim Town Manager Mark Leidal said there haven’t been any serious conversations about more of the stores in Outlets at Silverthorne closing, but he had heard conversations about “consolidation.”

Council member Erin Young said while the town lost some brick-and-mortar retail business, the town’s seen a lot of success with independently owned businesses. She wondered how the town could encourage more independently owned businesses to fill vacant storefronts. 

Council member Tanecia Spagnolia said she felt Silverthorne wasn’t an attractive place to start a new business because of the cost of living and the struggle to find quality workers.

“I think for years, Summit County has been of the opinion that we don’t have to be nice to people. I’m not saying that they’ve been maliciously mean to people, but I don’t think that Summit County in general, (and I don’t think Silverthorne) is a part of this, has rolled out the red carpet to tourists who come in here,” Applegate said.

“Summit County has to look at itself in the mirror and say (maybe we need to) change the way that we treat people that come in and try to be a little bit more receptive to having them here,” he added. 

Spagnolia agreed, noting how cost of living fueling higher expenses in Summit County could hurt tourism as well.

Leidal said there wasn’t enough time in the work session for the council to get into a larger discussion about economic development at the July 23 meeting. He said the update given by Kennedy was meant to paint a picture of where the town is financially 

He said where Silverthorne is now is reminiscent of where it was 20 years ago. He said the town also had concerns about the future of the Outlets at Silverthorne, and so it formed the Economic Development Advisory Committee. The intent was to figure out how Silverthorne could attract new businesses, and he said the effort was successful and it could be worth refreshing those conversations. 

He said the town has existing tools to attract businesses it could advertise more. 

Sandquist said part of the effort to support business was exempting automotive dealerships from sales tax. She said she was surprised to see the Summit Ford dealership cite “the area’s tax structure” as one of the reasons they closed in a press release. 

The release said the tax structure results in customers paying less tax when purchasing vehicles outside the region, making it difficult for local dealerships to remain competitive.