Manitou Springs City Council discusses Cog Railway plan for 2019 budget

The Manitou Springs City Council discussed some options regarding the historic Cog Railway and the possibility of getting it up and running again.

It’s something that has been talked about for close to a year now and on Tuesday, they are one step closer to an answer.

At the city council meeting, while discussing the 2019 city budget, the council talked about two budget options with the rail repairs in mind.

The first option is to give the Cog Railway owners a 50-year tax break so they can start the expensive reconstruction of the railway estimated to be about $85 million. In return, Manitou Springs would get one million dollars by 2019 and an additional $250,000 in 2020 while repairs are being done.

Mayor Ken Jaray says between talking to the city council and the Broadmoor, he thinks this option is most likely.

“I have no indication that the Broadmoor is not interested in moving forward,” said Jaray, “They are interested and so everything I know is that we are certainly making plans to implement that tax incentive agreement assuming the council passes it.”

However, if for some reason the Broadmoor does not accept the deal and leaves the Cog Railway closed, the city would have to make some tough decisions on the upcoming budget.

Jaray said, “Obviously we would have to look at some serious changes to our budget and our operations.”

Manitou Springs would have to deal with the loss of revenue from the railway and find a way to cut a million dollars from the 2019 budget or getting that money from another source.

“We will cross that bridge about whether they are not going to do it,” Jaray said, “but right now we are going to keep our fingers crossed.”

The council will put it all to a vote on November 7th.