Can the money math work for Eaglecrest’s gondola? Assembly, ski area officials tackle question Wednesday
- Mark Sabbatini
- Mar 3
- 3 min read
Report projects profit at resort by 2034, but will it be enough to offset debt, installation and possible future replacement costs of the lift?
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
With a major decision about proceeding with a gondola at Eaglecrest Ski Area potentially looming during the coming month, the Juneau Assembly and ski area officials are expected to review financial details crucial to that decision Wednesday night.
A report being presented to the Assembly’s Finance Committee projects the ski area will be profitable by 2034 if the gondola begins operating in 2028, and forecasts about a $1.5 million surplus (based on about $11.5 million in costs and $13 million in revenue) during the 2038 fiscal year.
But offsetting those gains are three major financial holes: the installation cost of the gondola that is yet to be finalized, a negative ski area fund balance of several million dollars and the possibility the gondola might need to be replaced in 20 years.
"I think that's really going to be the big question…does this break even?" said Neil Steininger, an Assembly member who is the liaison to Eaglecrest’s board of directors, in an interview Tuesday.
The report also reiterates warnings that abandoning the gondola will be costly. The city will have to repay, with interest, the $10 million Goldbelt Inc. provided for installation in exchange for a share of operating revenues, and will incur further sunk costs due to the purchase of the gondola and initial work performed towards its installation.
Questions from the Juneau Independent about the report’s financial assumptions — such as how many riders are expected at what ticket price — did not receive a response Tuesday from Craig Dahl, a special projects manager for the city helping oversee the ski resort’s future planning.
The Assembly has subsidized Eaglecrest for many years and, while those amounts have increased in recent years, continued to express support for such funding on the presumption the gondola will make the ski area profitable.
Wednesday’s meeting to discuss Eaglecrest’s budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 and beyond is only part of the math equation leaders are confronting. The other major aspect is expected to be discussed in early April when a contractor specifies how much it will cost to install the gondola.
Steininger said he doesn’t expect the installation cost to be so high or so low that it makes the decision an obvious call.
"When we get that number I think it's going to be a hard conversation, because I don't think that number is going to come in and make the decision really easy to go forward," he said. "I think this is going to be a community conversation over is this really the right direction here?"
The special joint meeting between the Finance Committee and Eaglecrest’s board of directors is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. No public testimony will be taken during the meeting.
Eaglecrest is proposing a $5.7 million budget for the coming fiscal year that has a deficit of nearly $2.7 million, due to the ski area predicting it will earn about $3 million in funding. That would leave the ski area with a projected negative fund balance of nearly $5.4 million as of June 30, 2027, and initial projections show the resort may lose a similar amount the following year before the gondola begins operation.
But the report also notes there is a high degree of unpredictability in the budget projections. It notes the original numbers for this year’s budget — $6.3 million in expenses and $3.8 million in funding — are now expected to be $4.8 million in expenses and $2.8 million in funding due to largely unforeseen factors such as closures resulting from weather and maintenance issues.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
