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County Delegation Denies Gunstock Borrowing

thetrailboss

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As many know, Gunstock is owned and operated by Belknap County as it has been for decades. Well, it appears that some members of the delegation feel that the county should not be in the ski area business, and for the first time enough of them voted against Gunstock's annual request to borrow funds for off-season maintenance and preparation for the ski season. The ski area asked to borrow $600,000 to operate between now and the winter. These commissioners feel that the area should be leased to a private operator.

https://www.laconiadailysun.com/new...cle_1533d44e-6db5-11e8-bde9-730e443dfad9.html
 

Killingtime

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Probably in reaction to the losses sustained last year. It seems that ski resorts are selling at decent multiples right now. Gotta believe there is someone out there that would be interested in Gunstock. The projections for next winter look good, but as we all know it takes just a few weekends of crappy weather and those projections are as valuable as the paper they are printed on.
 

Edd

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As many know, Gunstock is owned and operated by Belknap County as it has been for decades.

A clarification: Belknap does not operate Gunstock. It’s not like Cannon, which is run by state employees. Gunstock is a separately formed company that pays the county for land use.

Gunstock, through some legal nonsense I’m not qualified to explain, is not allowed to take out bank loans. When they need extra cash, they need to go the county. FYI, these loans are always repaid. Belknap is certainly not losing money on Gunstock.
 

thetrailboss

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A clarification: Belknap does not operate Gunstock. It’s not like Cannon, which is run by state employees. Gunstock is a separately formed company that pays the county for land use.

Interesting.
 

mbedle

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A clarification: Belknap does not operate Gunstock. It’s not like Cannon, which is run by state employees. Gunstock is a separately formed company that pays the county for land use.

Gunstock, through some legal nonsense I’m not qualified to explain, is not allowed to take out bank loans. When they need extra cash, they need to go the county. FYI, these loans are always repaid. Belknap is certainly not losing money on Gunstock.

Where did you read that? From what I read, it is owned by Belknap County and operated by the Gunstock Area Commission. This commission has 5 members and they are appointed by the county. It also appears that all of the employees are state employees, since they participate in the State's retirement plan.
 

Edd

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Where did you read that? From what I read, it is owned by Belknap County and operated by the Gunstock Area Commission. This commission has 5 members and they are appointed by the county. It also appears that all of the employees are state employees, since they participate in the State's retirement plan.

My wife works there. The commission staff are not ski area professionals. That’s a volunteer gig and they work with the actual management team on approving budgets. It’s a strange arrangement. The employees are absolutely not state employees. I’m hoping that a Gunstock rep establishes an account on AZ to answer questions like this. There used to be one but he left the mountain years ago. There’s some misinformation out there about how the mountain works.
 

mbedle

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My wife works there. The commission staff are not ski area professionals. That’s a volunteer gig and they work with the actual management team on approving budgets. It’s a strange arrangement. The employees are absolutely not state employees. I’m hoping that a Gunstock rep establishes an account on AZ to answer questions like this. There used to be one but he left the mountain years ago. There’s some misinformation out there about how the mountain works.

I must of miss read. But your info begs the question on who operates the resort? I looked up Gunstock on NH business website and couldn't find any private business that seem to be associated with the ski area. What kind of retirement plan does your wife have? The reason I am asking is one of the commissions made a comment about the retirement plan that is like a 401K. So I was thinking that is was a state run retirement plan.
 

thetrailboss

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OK. Someone with knowledge please clarify.

Bottom line is I think we all want to see Gunstock remain viable!
 

Smellytele

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I must of miss read. But your info begs the question on who operates the resort? I looked up Gunstock on NH business website and couldn't find any private business that seem to be associated with the ski area. What kind of retirement plan does your wife have? The reason I am asking is one of the commissions made a comment about the retirement plan that is like a 401K. So I was thinking that is was a state run retirement plan.

403b - municipalities (towns and county) are part of these retirement plans as well as state employees.
 

Edd

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I must of miss read. But your info begs the question on who operates the resort? I looked up Gunstock on NH business website and couldn't find any private business that seem to be associated with the ski area. What kind of retirement plan does your wife have? The reason I am asking is one of the commissions made a comment about the retirement plan that is like a 401K. So I was thinking that is was a state run retirement plan.

The plan is a 457b plus there’s profit sharing. I responded to the OPs statement of “run by Belknap country” simply to differentiate it from Cannon, who I believe really are state employees. When folks hear that, a frequent assumption is that Gunstock is staffed with government employees drawing pensions and so forth, sucking from the taxpayer well. You yourself leapt to a conclusion that they are state employees.

Also, regarding what I said about Gunstock paying for the land use. That was always true until 2016, when the memorandum of agreement (sort of a rental fee) expired between Gunstock and the county. Since then, it’s been under renegotiation, still unresolved.
 

thetrailboss

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The plan is a 457b plus there’s profit sharing. I responded to the OPs statement of “run by Belknap country” simply to differentiate it from Cannon, who I believe really are state employees. When folks hear that, a frequent assumption is that Gunstock is staffed with government employees drawing pensions and so forth, sucking from the taxpayer well. You yourself leapt to a conclusion that they are state employees.

Also, regarding what I said about Gunstock paying for the land use. That was always true until 2016, when the memorandum of agreement (sort of a rental fee) expired between Gunstock and the county. Since then, it’s been under renegotiation, still unresolved.

So are they county employees or not?


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Edd

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Paychecks there have “Gunstock Area Commission” at the top. The employees do exist in a legal grey area but, again, they aren’t considered county employees. Yeah, it’s weird.


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thetrailboss

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Paychecks there have “Gunstock Area Commission” at the top. The employees do exist in a legal grey area but, again, they aren’t considered county employees. Yeah, it’s weird.


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Interesting. So it is a separate quasi-public entity.
 

Newpylong

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Consider it a for-profit governed similar to a non-profit. The Commissioners are akin to a Board of Directors, (some may have ski area experience, some may not) and are the legal governing body. They hire staff to run the mountain day to day but are still involved at a strategic level and for capital items.
 

BenedictGomez

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The plan is a 457b plus there’s profit sharing.

A 457b is a non-profit plan. The 457a is government employee plan.

So the fact it's not a 457a lends credence to how you're saying she's not a government employee, but the fact you note there's "profit sharing" has me confused.

At any rate, if the loans are truly paid off in timely fashion leaving the county in an "even-Steven" position as has been stated, I dont see how there's a problem there, so my guess is it is the retirement plan (and likely healthcare) that's the issue.
 
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