Despite budget constraints and the prospect of service cuts due to a declining stream of sales tax revenue, the Steamboat Springs City Council is considering granting $750,000 — or more — to the Steamboat Chamber for 2026 destination marketing efforts.

While council will not make a more concrete decision on the funding amount until their budget retreat on Oct. 7, discussion at Tuesday night’s council meeting signaled support for meeting the $750,000 ask, and possibly exceeding it, with the idea that proactive funding for destination stewardship is ultimately a longer-term investment in Steamboat’s sales-tax driven economy.

Laura Soard, the Chamber’s senior director of destination development and communications, kicked off her presentation by summarizing recent tourism and revenue trends that have slowed since the post-pandemic boom.

“That exponential growth that we saw post-COVID, that has settled. And we knew that was going to happen, we just didn’t know when, and we are definitely seeing it now,” said Soard, who noted that year-over-year growth has essentially just accounted for inflation. “It’s growth, but not really what we need.”

According to Soard, from May to September of this year, 49% of in-town spending from those using Visa cards came from visitors. Year-round, only 20% of restaurant spending, she added, comes from local residents.

“I’m not proposing a drastic shift, but we do need to layer on some new efforts based on what we’ve seen for the numbers so far,” she continued, emphasizing the importance of supporting the tourism industry to sustain the local economy. “We’re working on a budget that is less than what we saw 10 years ago, and it is really hard to steward a brand like ours in this incredible destination with a budget that small.”

While the Chamber’s list of priorities for 2026 are more or less similar to 2025, Soard pointed to the main difference: allotting resources toward marketing initiatives that “actively invite” potential visitors to Steamboat.

Soard clarified that while Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp, does the majority of destination marketing for the winter season, the Chamber has historically “filled in the gaps” for the spring, summer and fall seasons, but has not done active marketing to visitors “for several years.”

“If we are not actively out there inviting people to come here, we’re going to lose out to other destinations that are absolutely doing that,” she said. 

Soard then announced the Chamber’s ask of $750,000 — $50,000 more than their $700,000 request last year, and $100,000 more than the $650,000 that council ultimately agreed to grant the Chamber for 2025.

The Chamber’s proposed 2026 budget includes a new “creative planning” line, which allots $35,000, or 5% of the overall proposed budget, for more active marketing efforts. 

“We have not had a creative advertising agency to help us create these campaigns for several years, so I’d like to get back into that and have some really solid creative efforts coming forward,” said Soard.

Following the presentation, Councilor Bryan Swintek asked Soard what she’s been hearing from businesses and local stakeholders. 

“A lot of businesses are struggling, and they’re feeling that there are fewer people, and fewer people spending money, and we know that’s what happens when prices go up,” she said. “People have to be judicious in how they spend their money, so if they’re spending more on one particular thing, they’re not spending as much in town.”

Councilor Amy Dickson suggested that the financial “slump” facing Steamboat is actually a broader trend occurring not only in other mountain towns, but across the country. Soard agreed. 

Soard also said that Steamboat is “well on the low end” of what other Colorado mountain towns spend on destination marketing, adding that towns like Breckenridge spend over $5 million a year, while bigger competitors like Aspen and Snowmass spend over $12 million annually.

“Other smaller mountain towns even spend over a million. Ouray has a new funding mechanism, they spend over a million each year, as do places like Glenwood Springs,” said Soard. “So we are well under what our competitors are spending.”

During the public comment period, community member John Shipley, who identified himself as the first-ever marketing director for Ski Corp., recalled periods of time in Steamboat where the lack of prioritization of destination marketing efforts had considerable impacts on the local community, and urged council to “not go backwards.” 

Community member Larry Mashaw, vice president of sales and marketing at Resort Group, echoed Shipley’s remarks, emphasizing that the “need is really in the non-winter months.” 

“I would encourage you not only to approve the request tonight, but to open your mind to larger numbers to compete better with other destinations,” he said. “We can already see other communities that are bringing back more events, and are bringing back more marketing in order to bring people to their destination.” 

Dickson acknowledged commonly raised concerns by local residents that the influx of visitors into town can be “too much,” but underscored the repercussions that could fall on locals should the financial slump continue.

“If people are not coming here and spending money … restaurants will close, businesses will close, more people will move out of town, we might lose more families with young children,” said Dickson. “So I support this.” 

Councilors Bryan Swintek and Steve Muntean advocated going beyond the Chamber’s ask of $750,000, with the latter suggesting that ideally, they could grant the Chamber as much as $1 million. 

“Marketing is kind of counter-cyclical. We are heading into a softening time. I think putting more funds towards this now, even though our budget is short — if we can find even $50,000 or even $100,000 to put toward this … as we go through this softening time, I think personally, would be really wise,” said Swintek. 

“Even before I was on council, we were always talking about how we can cut, cut, cut the budget for the Chamber, and ‘figure out your own way to sustain yourselves,’ and now we’ve kind of flipped the coin, which I really think is great,” said Muntean. 

“We are in a position that if we continue to not support the Chamber at a reasonable level, or keep supporting the Chamber at a declining level when you look at it after inflation, that you just don’t get it back in one or two years,” Muntean added. “This is one of those things that you have to keep investing in.”

Councilors Dakotah McGinlay and Michael Buccino highlighted the lack of “predictable events,” with Buccino noting the loss of the Triple Crown baseball tournament and the antique car show in recent years. Both suggested that bringing back events in the spring and fall seasons, in tandem with meeting the Chamber’s funding request, could help solve the larger issue of declining sales tax revenue. 

Councilor Joella West responded by cautioning her fellow councilors about past community sentiment.

“It’s very hard when you can’t walk down the street, you can’t find a parking space — fill in the blanks — to say, ‘Oh, but it’s OK, because these people are contributing, they’re paying taxes, and it’s helping to support our economy,'” said West. 

“So before we start talking about, ‘Let’s have more events,’ let’s remember what it felt like three and four years ago when the movement was all, ‘We don’t like what the Chamber is doing, we don’t like its mission, we don’t want to support that mission because our residents are very unhappy with all the people in town,'” she continued.

“Before we go completely mad and start looking for enough to make it a million dollars, I want to make sure that we could actually say ‘yes’ to $750,000, which is a conversation for the 7th of October,” she added.

Council will have a thorough discussion regarding the 2026 city budget during their retreat on Oct. 7, but will not make any formal decision until the first ordinance reading of the budget during their regular meeting Oct. 14.