The City of South Lake Tahoe is facing a great opportunity with the potential annexation of Heavenly Ski Resort. Annexation of Heavenly property promises to bring a host of benefits to the community including enhanced city services, an improved quality of life for residents, and improved vacation experience for visitors.

The City of South Lake Tahoe incorporated in 1965 to improve police, fire, and snow removal services. When the new City limit boundary was drawn it excluded Heavenly (see attached map). Heavenly sits just outside of the City limits and in the jurisdiction of El Dorado County meaning the City misses out on property tax and sales tax revenue generated by Heavenly. Yes, this means no sales tax generated at Heavenly Ski Resort at on mountain locations on the California side of the Stateline, including the Cal Lodge is remitted to the City of South Lake Tahoe for services provided.

Services such as police and fire, public safety and snow removal, and traffic control are funded primarily through property, sales, and transient occupancy taxes paid by residents, businesses, and visitors. The city continuously works to improve the services that it provides, utilizing tax dollars to purchase new snow removal and safety equipment and to attract quality personnel. Since 1965, the City of South Lake Tahoe has provided roadway access, traffic control management, and first responder services to Heavenly without the direct benefit of tax revenues from their operations. The demonstrated collaboration between the city and Vail Resorts during the winter of 2023-2024 vastly improved the visitor and resident experience in the California Base Lodge area. The city has continuously strived to ensure that appropriate level-of-services are provided in this vicinity to protect public safety, health, and welfare.

Annexation would allow for even more coordinated approaches to city services and infrastructure development, as well as redevelopment opportunities. There would be no impact to zoning and land use regulations, and it is likely that building department and permitting services would be provided to Vail Corporation at an enhanced standard. As continuous improvements are made at Heavenly Resort, planning and coordination with the city could result in seamless integration of resort and City services to provide the best possible visitor and resident experience.

Joe Irvin
City Manager