SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Daily News "Pitkin County self-sufficiency standards presented to BOCC"

In easier to grasp terms, that works out to at least $13.00 per hour.  Low and mid-tier  Skico employees make less per hour than that.  In fact, low tier make under $11.00 per hour.  In fact, one has to be in a management position at Aspen Ski Corp. to make that bare minimum.  And that bare minimum?  Is for a single person.  If you are single with one child you need to be making between $28 and $29 per hour.

Remember now, Aspen's largest employer is seasonal.  So double or triple what you need to earn in order to get that made in 6 months or less. 

Remember now, your 'perks' like health insurance, free ski pass and bus pass lower your expenses which translates out to a great point that  Tracey Stewart makes in this article.  'You make too much' to qualify for most all subsidies to help out.  Now there is a very interesting thought considering Aspen's blue blood runs liberal.  Good 'ol fashioned capitalism is sounding better by the day, isn't it? 

Still think Lee Mulcahy's voice should have been quashed by $Big Money$?  Or that he should still be enduring the wrath of $Big Money$ for exposing them?

Before personally judging Mulcahy and supporters, please read up on all of the facts and get familiar with all of the story.

While you're at it, please read the entire article by Dorothy Atkins today.  Up on the Aspen Daily News.

Dorothy Atkins:
"In order to be self sufficient and live in Pitkin County, an individual needs to make at least $27,000 a year, according to the Colorado Center on Law and Policy (CCLP), while a single parent with three young children needs to make $103,607 annually to get by on their own. 

The nonprofit agency presented the statistics and others related to self-sufficiency standards to the Board of County Commissioners in a work session on Tuesday.

The study is an income measurement tool that determines how much money families of various sizes and compositions living in specific geographic locations need to earn in order to make ends meet without public or private assistance. The nonprofit produces the study every three years.

A singe parent with one child needs to earn at least $59,400 a year to be self sufficient in Pitkin County, while a two-parent, two-child household needs to make over $87,500 a year here, according to the study.

Those statistics include federal tax credits that families would theoretically receive like the child care credit and the earned income tax credit.

The study also addresses the increase in costs of basic needs since 2004. Of the six categories, all costs have gone up in Pitkin County except transportation. The costs of housing, child care, food, health care and taxes have all increased. The cost of health care showed the largest jump, increasing by 121 percent, which is consistent with the rest of the state, said Tracey Stewart, self-sufficiency project coordinator with CCLP.

Of a sampling of various common working and middle class lines of work, only two occupations in Pitkin County pay enough for a single parent with one preschooler and one school-age child to be self sufficient, according to the study. Those are registered nurses and operations managers, the latter of which theoretically includes people in management positions at Aspen Skiing Co., Stewart said.

Commissioner Rob Ittner questioned Stewart on whether or not the study took into account benefits that residents receive — like affordable housing and food stamps — which can do a lot to offset the high cost of living in Pitkin County.

Stewart countered that there is often  a gap between the amount of money individuals would have to earn on the lower end to qualify for receiving benefits from the government and the amount one would have to make to be self-sufficient...."  (Read more? You should.  Click title)

"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."