Regional tourism group refutes state audit report

Northern Colorado regional tourism officials say they have met all reporting requirements following a state audit that was critical of the oversight the regional tourism authority has received.

According to a report in the Coloradoan, the audit blasts the state Office of Economic Development and International Trade, or OEDIT,  which in 2015 approved $86 million in tax increment financing for four projects in Windsor, Loveland and Estes Park that promised to bring thousands of new visitors to the region.  

Auditors said the Northern Colorado Regional Tourism Authority failed to file four quarterly reports and an additional status report between March 2016 and January 2017. The first report was not submitted until July 31, according to the report.

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The 15-member NCRTA is comprised of the mayors of Windsor, Estes Park and Loveland, County Commissioner Tom Donnelly and 11 others from throughout the communities.

The audit alleges NCRTA did not submit information required by the Department of Revenue to finalize the businesses that should be included in the project’s regional tourism zone, which will generate tax increment for the projects.

The audit acknowledges OEDIT waived the reporting requirement because NCRTA was  working on finalizing the projects’ resolutions.

“As far as we’re concerned we haven’t missed any reporting,” said Stacy Johnson, the economic development director in Windsor, who acts as staff for the NCRTA. The authority submitted its third-quarter report on Monday.

Windsor regularly submits a list of businesses that come into and leave the tourism zones, she said.

So does Loveland, said Alan Krcmarik, the city’s executive fiscal adviser. “Had we been asked to do more regularly monthly reporting in 2016 we would have done that,” he said. “It just didn’t seem to be that big of an issue at the time.”

Ironically, the NCRTA just received its first tax increment check for $141,540.24, which will go into the bank until it is needed.

“Until a couple weeks ago we had received zero dollars,” said NCRTA Chairman Cecil Gutierrez, the mayor of Loveland until Tuesday’s election. “How can we report on money we haven’t received, spent or committed?”

While the four projects may have stalled, they’re not dead, said Estes Park Mayor Todd Jirsa, who sits on the NCRTA.

Two issues have delayed finalizing the projects, including strict guardrails put in place by the OEDIT and tax increment. “If there’s no tax increment coming in to help support these projects, that’s a problem,” Jirsa said.

“All the developers are trying to figure out how to get the financing done,” Krcmarik said.

The four projects under consideration for Northern Colorado are the Stanley Film Center in Estes Park; Indoor Waterpark Resort of the Rockies to be located in Loveland; U.S. Whitewater Adventure Park, also to be located in Loveland; and PeliGrande Resort, to be located in Windsor.