Head City Lobbyist Outlines Big Fiscal and Political Battles
Rick Langenberg
“Don’t Mess With Cripple Creek.”
That is the overriding message the gaming community has stressed in dealing with state lawmakers over the last decade and in digging inside the political trenches.
More importantly, the city wants to make sure any attempts to snag revenue or do end-around attacks against the gambling towns in creating illegal competition are squashed head-on.
“Nobody is going to mess with Cripple Creek,” boasted Solomon “Sol” Malick, president of the Peak Government Affairs group, in addressing the city council recently. Malick has served as the head government lobbyist for Cripple Creek for 10-plus years, a stint he described as extremely successful.
“It has been incredibly productive. We are no longer under attack every year,” stated Malick. He said when he first started working with Cripple Creek, state leaders often eyed gaming revenue as their own personal bank account, and the town faced ongoing fights over video lottery terminals and the allotment of gaming impact dollars.
Those fights still are ongoing, but Cripple Creek has continued to wave a victory flag in combating these threats.
Now, Malick believes Cripple Creek and the other two gaming towns need to get more aggressive in receiving a higher share of the revenue pot. “The gaming communities are not getting enough money,” said Malick, a statement that was widely supported by the city council.
Only now, the lobbyist believes this message is resonating strong with some legislative leaders. Although not dwelling into details, Malick said he is working with a key state Senator in changing this scenario through an effort that would provide an equitable share of extra funds to all the gaming towns, without using the current formulas that determine historic preservation monies and the Amendment 50 funds.
The only downside of such an effort, though, is the town would have to deal with the revenue limitations associated with the Taxpayer Bill of Rights law (TABOR), if they are successful in this push for more state revenue.
But the news of possibly more revenue for the casino towns is music to the ears of many local leaders, who are still fuming over what they term as the sports betting rip off. The gaming towns got zilch from a $3 billion-plus industry that was basically started in Colorado due to the support and cooperation from the gaming towns. In fact, they were identified in the state ballot proposition as the anchor sites for where these wagers could occur. (Most of the casinos ended up contracting out these services to sports’ book companies.)
Malick told the city council that a bill they recently opposed, aimed at “debrucing” additional revenue this industry would generate, well beyond the TABOR limits, successfully moved forward and is slated for a state vote this November. The council got testy when they learned the extra money would go towards financing the state’s water plan and not to any of the gaming towns.
Malick, though, conceded the city faced an uphill battle in fighting this legislation. “”This thing was pretty juiced,” said the lobbyist.
He said efforts are being mulled to reconsider this sports betting adjustment, and that the time is right for a review of this revenue formula. That is another reason he cited for additional legislation to give the gaming towns a bigger portion of the overall gaming revenue pie.
Mixed Bag of Political Realties
As for the ups and downs of state politics, on the upside Malick spoke highly of the results of the primary elections. He stated that a group or ultra-progressive candidates, often identified as more idealogues of certain causes, suffered big losses, as more centrist contenders were elected.
That’s the good news.
The bad news, according to Malick, is that the state Democratic Party is only a seat or two from gaining a supermajority status. This could mean more bills will be introduced that favor urban areas and that are not favorable to Teller County. And with a prevalent control of the state House, Senate and the governor’s office, this could result in big changes. Malick, who has indicated he favors a more middle-of-the road lineup, says this would result in more parliamentary changes. “They can control anything they want.”
But while gaining more power within the state, Malick, similar to the views of key local leaders, see the recent national polling favoring the Republicans more.
Malick admitted that most Democratic state leaders were not thrilled with the candidacy of President Joe Biden, who recently announced plans to drop out of the race. This issue has somewhat divided the Democratic Party nationally. Malick contended that the Republican Party in Colorado is now more energized over the prospect of winning the presidency this November.
Regardless of the national furor over the presidential race, he sees the legislative future of Cripple Creek as quite good.
Master Plan and Ice Castles
In other news, the city is moving forward with its new master plan project, the first time it has handled such a comprehensive effort since 2009.
According to City Administrator Frank Salvato, Cripple Creek will most likely be organizing community meetings regarding the project this fall. A key objective of the new master plan effort is to generate strong community input.
At its July 17 meeting, the council okayed a contract with one of the top consultant bidders for the first phase of the project, an economic development and tourism plan, partially funded by Dan Lee, the chief executive officer of Full House Resorts. Other aspects of the plan will evaluate such detailed topics as land use, zoning, housing, infrastructure and current codes.
A master plan is often viewed as a road map for the community for the next decade. Cripple Creek is one of the last towns in the Teller/Ute Pass area to jump on board in doing updated comp plans. Similar efforts were done in both Woodland Park and Green Mountain Falls. In both communities, this process generated much public input, and a variety of subcommittees.
Altogether, the town is proposing a master plan project, with a total price tag of a little more than $300,000. Out of this, the city doesn’t have to pay much of the tab.
And in other development news, no decision has been announced yet on whether the Ice Castles company will be returning to Cripple Creek next winter. “We should hear any day now,” said Salvato, who is cautiously optimistic that the winter wonderland-like attraction will return in late December. Cripple Creek was one of about five sites nationally for the attraction that was a big hit among area families.
This attraction was viewed as a big success locally.
