About

Friends of TMVOA

Telluride and Mountain Village have changed significantly over the last 30 years. Mountain Village has matured into a destination location for full and part-time residents who love the outdoors. Telluride Mountain Village Owner’s Association was founded in 1984 with the primary purpose to build and fund the Gondola.

Telski, the operator of the resort, has changed ownership a number of times and has been acquiring real estate and commercial properties, but they pay little to nothing into TMVOA for their open space land or developed property.

In the 2020 election, Telski cast 79.5% of the votes for the Residential Member and 86% of the votes for the Commercial Member. Although the Lodging Member was not up for election in 2020, Telski controls 314 votes out of a total of 981 eligible votes. If only half the eligible voters in fact vote, which is historically the case, then Telski would control the lodging member as well. Thus, Telski controls all the voting members of TMVOA. To put it another way, Telski, a for profit entity, controls a non profit entity, TMVOA, that was created for the public benefit of the owners of Mountain Village property.

Why Does It Matter

According to the San Miguel County Assessor, the market value of real estate investments in Mountain Village totaled $3.7 billion of which the residential component represented $3.3 billion or 89%. The residential owners contribute 90% of the funds to TMVOA through assessments and RETA payments. But the resident’s only have two voting members on the TMVOA Board with Telski having 3 voting members and Commercial and Lodging each having 1 member each. We believe given the financial commitment the resident’s are providing to TMVOA, the residential class should have a majority of the voting members

TMVOA currently has cash and investments of $50 million. Over the last 15 years, TMVOA has collected on average $6.1 million per year in Real Estate Transfer Assessment (RETA). This money should be designated for the expansion of the gondola, development of the Elk Pond recreational area, and other major initiatives outlined in the Mountain Village Comprehensive Plan.

As these details came to light in 2020, a number of property owners became concerned. These concerned property owner’s believe it is time to amend the TMVOA voting rights, to put the control of TMVOA back in the hands of the residential community. In addition, with the current Board structure, there is a high probability of that the federal tax exemption will be in jeopardy.