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Top 5 most-read stories last week: property values, TABOR and mental health

Editor’s note: Stories in this list received the most page views on SummitDaily.com in the past week.

1. Breckenridge short-term rental owners concerned license cap will decrease property values

Breckenridge is looking to cap its short-term rental licenses, but local vacation homeowners are concerned about how this could impact their property values.

Property owners have expressed understanding of the issue in residential areas, but many noted that there are areas and complexes in town designed to be high-density, short-term lodging for vacationers. In particular, owners along the Four O’Clock corridor fear the impact of licenses being nontransferable at sale.



Abby Epperson, a Realtor who owns a unit and lives full time at the Park Place Plaza condominiums on the corner of Four O’Clock Road and Park Avenue, said the town should consider exempting this corridor.

Lindsey Toomer



2. Coloradans will receive an income-tax cut and refund payment because the TABOR cap was exceeded

Colorado taxpayers will get a break on their income taxes and a refund payment because the state’s cap on government growth and spending under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights was exceeded last fiscal year.

The income tax rate will drop to 4.5% in 2021, down from 4.55%, and individual taxpayers will get an additional sales tax refund payment, on average, of about $70. Joint filers will receive $166 on average.

“These tax cuts and refunds are a strong sign that Colorado’s economy is roaring back,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a written statement.

The Colorado Sun

3. Party town: How an alcohol-centered culture is impacting the community’s mental health

Jordan Cain was a teenager when he began drinking.

It started innocuous enough for the Longmont native, as is the case with many young people experimenting with alcohol in their high school years. But things didn’t stay that way.

He developed an alcohol use disorder, and soon he was drinking just to stop himself from going into withdrawal. At some point, he began using cocaine to stay awake. For 12 years, people in his life tried to talk to him about his addiction, but he would brush off their remarks.

Sawyer D’Argonne

4. Summit County gets split in latest congressional redistricting map

A new proposal from the Colorado Independent Redistricting Commission was released Sept. 3, putting Summit County residents in an interesting position with many staying in their current spot in Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District, while others would be looped into the 7th Congressional District.

Colorado is growing, and its pool of congressional delegates has to grow to keep up. The state will add a new congressional seat next year due to population gains, meaning the redistricting commission, established by voters in 2018, is getting a crack at redrawing the map for the first time.

But some Summit County residents are scratching their heads at the latest proposal.

Sawyer D’Argonne

5. Summit County staff lays out proposed housing code changes to county commissioners

Summit County officials have spent the summer laser-focused on developing a multitude of solutions to tackle the community’s affordable housing issue.

Just this summer, the county hosted a housing summit to brainstorm ideas with other community leaders, toured a new facility in Buena Vista that’ll manufacture modular homes and began developing a program that aims to convert short-term rentals into long-term housing units.

Another strategy currently getting fleshed out is tweaking the county’s housing code.

Jenna deJong


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