The city of Steamboat Springs has made a significant investment in downtown improvements as evidenced by the extensive work that has been completed on Yampa and Oak streets this summer, and we have no doubt downtown businesses have benefitted tremendously from the transformation.

With this in mind, we were encouraged to read that downtown business leaders are looking ahead to 2018 as the year when a downtown property tax proposal could go back on the ballot.

Main Street Steamboat Springs Executive Director Lisa Popovich announced last week that a tax question seeking funding for the downtown business improvement district, or BID, would hit the ballot next year to give those promoting the plan the proper amount of time to mount an educational campaign in support of the proposal.

Taking the time to make sure downtown property owners fully understand the implications of a BID and how they stand to benefit is essential to ensuring the tax measure passes. Popovich was on target when she said she believes previous attempts to pass a BID failed in 2007 and again in 2014 because the campaigns did not clearly detail how the BID funds would be spent and property owners feared the city would scale back its support of downtown upkeep should the BID pass.

Read more at Steamboat Today.