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Steamboat Springs — The Yampa Valley Housing Authority likely will seek a dedicated sales tax this year to bolster its dwindling bank account.

The agency's board of directors met Thursday to discuss goals and strategies for 2007.

When the housing authority was formed in November 2003, the Steamboat Springs City Council and the Routt Coun-

ty commissioners authorized three years of start-up funding for the group, which has since constructed the 30-unit Fox Creek development on Hilltop Parkway. All but one of Fox Creek's 30 units are reserved, and the housing authority is now looking at its next project, construction of the Elk River Village development on Routt County Road 129.

But the three-year grace period ended last year, and while city and county officials have granted a one-year funding extension, housing authority executive director Elizabeth Black said Thursday she is nearly in the red.

"The housing authority had $4,100 to its name at the end of December. That's it," Black said, adding that payments on the Elk River Village property - $13,500 a month - are draining the housing authority's cash flow.

"I don't have a spare five bucks at the housing authority," Black said.

Much of Thursday's noon meeting at Centennial Hall focused on a ballot issue that would ask voters in November to approve a sales tax increase to fund the housing authority.

"If we don't go for a dedicated funding source, we as a housing authority may no longer exist (in 2008)," said board of directors member and Routt County Commissioner Nancy Stahoviak. "It's not like we have a choice."

The housing authority's board discussed two different sales tax increases and strategies for pitching either proposal to the public. Board members will next address the ballot issue at a meeting Jan. 19, but discussed an immediate source of funding Thursday.

The City Council has not yet decided what to do with about $950,000 remaining from funds given to the city for affordable housing by the developers of the Riverwalk project that is being built on the site of the former Westland Mobile Home Park. Housing authority board members said those funds could go a long way toward helping the agency, but there is no guarantee from the city.

City Council member Loui Antonucci, who also sits on the housing authority board, hinted that the funding could be better used by the housing authority than the council.

"There are a number of members of the council who feel that the council should not be in the housing business," Antonucci said.

As plans move forward for Elk River Village and a ballot issue, new housing authority officers will lead the discussions.

The housing authority board unanimously elected Routt County Planner Mary Alice Page-Allen its new president and board member Tony Seaver its new vice-president Thursday. The board elected former president Kathi Meyer, currently chairwoman of the Steamboat Springs Planning Commission, as the board's new secretary and treasurer.

The board also voted unanimously to send a letter to the Steamboat Springs City Council, requesting more involvement in the council's ongoing process to revise the city's housing policies.

"There has been some frustration and confusion, on the part of board members, about our role with the city," Stahoviak said.

"We're not on the same page," acknowledged Antonucci, who made the motion to send the housing authority's letter to the council.

Also Thursday, the board also welcomed new members Kristi Brown, Dave Bruni, Eric Smith and Trish Sullivan into service on the housing authority.

"We plan to put you to work," Stahoviak told them.