How Nederland’s troubled Eldora deal could lead to drastic budget measures

Nederland officials this week acknowledged the town does not have the money in its general fund to pay for acquisition costs for Eldora Mountain resort and that it will have to transfer money from other town funds to cover the deficit. 

The revelations confirmed problems first revealed by a former town trustee, Dallas Masters, who launched an independent probe of the deal.

The board Monday considered a resolution written by Masters that would limit spending more public money on the acquisition, amid fears that the purchase of the 680-acre ski resort could force town leaders to take drastic actions in the 2027 budget.

If the deal falls through, the town could have to absorb an approximately $2.8 million hit to its general fund in order to cover the Eldora acquisition costs — with few good options to do so.  

One option presented to the board calls for dissolving the Nederland Downtown Development Authority and using its $1.9 million in reserves to pay down the deficit. Another involves transferring $2 million from water and sewer fund savings with no expectation of repayment. And a third calls for sending $900,000 the town set aside for its community center into the general fund. 

“If the town had an emergency siren, I’d be blasting it right now,” Masters wrote on Facebook. 

Nederland is nearing the two-year mark in its effort to buy the Boulder County ski area from resort operator Powdr. Yet its ability to finance the $120 million purchase — plus more than $100 million for capital projects and reserves — has drawn scrutiny from lenders and residents of the town of 1,500 people. 

The initial plan was to establish an enterprise fund — essentially a government-run business — with revenues from the ski area paying down the debt. The Nederland board of trustees in January approved a $120 million purchase and as much as $225 million in bonded debt.

On Sept. 30, Nederland Mayor Nichole Sterling said the town was struggling to give investors confidence that the bonds will be repaid. And to prove the project’s viability, the town was asking for $20 million in donations and help from the state.

Masters’ resolution asked the town to create firm deadlines to either close the deal or stop spending money, and to establish a firm spending cap of $3 million. 

The board revised the resolution to remove those restrictions. The new version would limit further Eldora acquisition spending, require board approval of any new consultants and have the town manager provide updates on the proposed acquisition. A final vote on the resolution is expected at a future meeting.  

Nederland resident Kristin Conrad, an opponent of the deal, wrote on Facebook that the board’s changes to Masters’ resolution made it “a bit of a nothing sandwich.”

“All this really says is that they promise to communicate better, and they will vote on any new spending or new acquisition deal,” she said. 

Options presented cold to town board

Some residents are concerned the board didn’t include the repayment options for review on the town website prior to the meeting. 

While the board discussed the options in a PowerPoint presentation during the meeting, Tania Corvalan, who served on the board from April 2020 to April 2026, messaged a board member asking if he’d seen the proposals. He said he hadn’t.

“That is ridiculous,” Corvalan told The Colorado Sun. “You’re going to a meeting blind without being able to process anything? I’m pretty pissed about that.” 

Melody Baumhover, another critic of the acquisition, wrote on Facebook she appreciated the town “finally cracked open the lid, and revealed the cold hard truth … as crappy as it is to see.” 

Masters’ investigation shows every bill related to the Eldora acquisition to date was charged to the general fund, paid from the town’s pooled cash and recorded in the city’s accounting system as money owed back to the town. 

It also shows the money was withdrawn and used to pay the acquisition costs despite there being no record of the board discussing it in a public meeting. 

And, he says, there is no guarantee that the town can legally use the money from other funds to cover the general fund deficit. 

Water and sewer utility funds are restricted for water and sewer uses, Masters reported. Nederland Downtown Development Authority funds can only be used if the authority is dissolved, he added. And community center funds are supposed to be restricted to the community center, Masters reported.  

The general fund currently has a negative cash balance of $757,482, according to Masters’ reporting.  

Corvalan, who voted for Nederland to pursue the Eldora acquisition, said there are other ways the town could come up with the money, including selling parcels of land it owns or borrowing from the DDA. 

Miranda Gordon, Nederland’s interim town manager, said in an email “the town has the funds in its water/sewer funds, community center fund and the NDDA to be able to pursue one or more of the options presented to help address the General Fund deficit and stabilize the town’s revenue as a whole.”

But Masters says whether the town’s siphoning of money to pay Eldora costs from pooled cash of all funds was legal “will likely be answered during the 2027 budgeting process and the 2026 audit.” 

“It’s a total fiasco,” he added.