Campaign fundraising and spending among Aspen City Council candidates is ramping up as finance reports due Monday show thousands of dollars have been contributed and spent in a 12-day period.
Kimbo Brown-Schirato, who is vying against seven other candidates for two open seats, still leads in fundraising with an additional $3,275 between Feb. 9 and Sunday. That brings her total fundraising to $10,575.
Brown-Schirato has spent over $3,343 on web-based advertising, Facebook and printing.
Mark Reece raised $3,635 in the past 10 days in addition to his self-loan of $5,000 during the first reporting period, which covered Jan. 1 through Feb. 8.
He has spent $4,155, mostly on door hangers, printing, flyers, newspaper ads and yard signs.
This pie chart from the city of Aspen’s Finance Department shows how the accommodations industry fared in December. Short-term rentals comprised approximatey one-third of the total.
The city of Aspen’s finance whizzes are starting to get a better understanding of the impacts short-term rentals are having on the lodging industry as well as the greater community.
With $6.5 million generated in taxable revenue in December, short-term rentals in Aspen accounted for approximately one-third of the sales tax revenue the city collected from the lodging sector in December. Traditional lodging posted $13.5 million in revenue in December, as the accommodations industry, even with short-term rental revenue factored in, was down 43.7% in Aspen during the holiday month compared with December 2019, according to a report issued last week.