QUICK TAKES

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

1.) VAIL'S IMPROVING ECONOMY:  Sales tax collections are up.  Following record-setting sales tax collections last December, The Town of Vail reports that January 2011 sales tax collections are up 10% over budget and more than 8% over January 2010.

2.) SKI PASS BARGAINS:  Vail Resorts, Inc. today kicked off its spring pass sales period for the 2011-2012 ski/snowboard season.  Skiers and snowboarders who buy their passes this spring will also receive special SUMMER benefits including access for sightseeing and gondola rides. I'll give you a couple of highlights but you really need to go to http://www.coloradopass.com/ to see all of your options and to make your purchases.
     - The Epic Pass(TM):  unrestricted, unlimited skiing at Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Heavenly, Northstar-at-Tahoe and Arapahoe Basin ... for $649.
     - Epic Local Pass(TM):  7 unrestricted days of skiing/riding at any one of Vail Resorts' six mountain resorts plus Arapahoe Basin anytime during next season ... for $499.

3.) A DIFFERENT KIND OF REAL ESTATE:  I did some checking ... do you know how many nuclear power stations we have here in Colorado?  None.  There is, as far as I can find, only one nuclear reactor in the entire state, a 1 MW (megawatt) research reactor owned by the U.S. Geological Survey.  One megawatt (1MW) is a million watts of power.  Wikipedia says that a single large residential or commercial building may consume several megawatts in electric power and heat ... and that U.S. nuclear plants have net summer capacities between 500 and 1,300 MWs.  The Massachusetts Insitute of Technology in Cambridge has its own 5 MW research reactor.  Not much nuclear going on in Colorado.

4.) CORPORATE TAX DEADLINE:  a thought for you taxpayers whose corporation tax forms (or extensions) need to be filed today ... Did you realize that if you combine "The" with "IRS", it spells "THEIRS"?