Maddie Quinn, program manager for Grand County Active Trails & Transportation (GCAT), presented a detailed, grants-focused 2026 budget to the Grand County Budget Advisory Board on Sept. 26, 2025. The presentation explained how GCAT’s operations rely heavily on time-limited state and federal grants, and how the program must align staffing and scheduling with grant reimbursement cycles.

Major changes and why they matter

- Staffing and program reorganization: GCAT plans a significant operational change in 2026. The Trail Ambassadors (responsible-recreation / volunteer outreach) program is being moved to an independent nonprofit for 2026; as a result GCAT’s county‑funded staffing will decline from about 19 positions this year to 8 next year, with the program retaining a smaller core county staff focused on trail construction and maintenance. Quinn said the shift eliminates some general‑fund and TRT-funded lines previously used to subsidize ambassador activities.

- Grants structure and schedule: Quinn presented a week-by-week operational schedule that maps anticipated grant‑funded crew hours, volunteer time and project windows. She explained that many grants cover only specific line items (for example, signage design, trail materials or reimbursable labor) and that grants’ start and end dates often span multiple calendar years, so GCAT budgets total grant amounts to avoid needing frequent contract amendments.

- Optional sales tax request and fund balance: Quinn said GCAT is requesting about $309,000 in optional sales tax for 2026, roughly $23,000 more than the prior year’s request. The increase primarily covers benefits and employer costs associated with an OHV trail coordinator position and related vehicle needs; Quinn said a reliable truck is a near-term need if the county expects the coordinator to be deployed to remote motorized trail projects. In the presentation Quinn noted that paved-path fund balances and previously built reserves are available for major paved-path expenses and easement acquisitions but that GCAT still relies on optional sales tax for several overhead items that grants do not reimburse.

- Project specifics: Grants mentioned by name included the Recreational Trails Program (RTP) awards for signs and maintenance, multiple Mud Springs project phases, and a UDOT-funded Spanish Valley Drive pathway project. Quinn said Mud Springs phase work must occur in a specific seasonal window; she also said the Spanish Valley Drive pathway requires ongoing easement acquisitions and right-of-way work that will likely continue into 2027.

- Volunteers and program value: Quinn said volunteers contribute an estimated $45,000 in match labor each year; that volunteer match is used in grant applications and reduces the county’s cash match needs. She asked the board to preserve modest volunteer-support funding (for supplies, food and volunteer events) because the volunteer contribution is a major match to many grants.

Board discussion and next steps

Board members asked about fund balances for paved-path projects and whether the county should continue setting aside reserves for future large items such as chip seal or reconstructed segments. Quinn said she and county finance staff have discussed historical fund balance levels and that the paved-path fund historically accumulated about $100,000 annually in some years; there was discussion of maintaining an approximately $1.5 million reserve in the paved-path fund as a planning target for large future work, though Quinn said fund-balance figures would be refined with staff.

Quinn requested permission to work with county staff and partners to finalize the optional-sales-tax request and the schedule of grant projects. She also flagged several possible restorations to the proposed cuts if funding is available: adding a seasonal fifth trail technician for high‑workload months, restoring a short-term volunteer coordinator to organize the spring “spruce up” volunteer event, and modestly increasing equipment and counter purchases (trail counters to better track use and economic impact).

Quotes used in context

- Maddie Quinn, GCAT program manager: “We have an estimate of, we have our operations coordinator hours. We have our staff hours. In some cases, we have volunteer hours…” (describing the grants-driven weekly schedule).

Ending

Quinn said the GCAT budget is intentionally conservative and tied to grant schedules; the board asked staff to clarify fund-balance figures and discuss options for restoring a small number of items if optional-sales-tax revenue or other discretionary funding becomes available.