"It goes to their bus service and their flowers and their cookies and the public safety that they do there." That is how Eagle County Commissioner Jeanne McQueeney described, in blunt terms, what Beaver Creek's resort-wide assessments actually fund. She was speaking last fall during a fight over Eagle County's lodging tax ballot measure, and her point was pointed: the money is good for visitors, but it does nothing for the workforce that keeps the resort running.
That comment is worth sitting with before you write an offer on a home in Beaver Creek, because it explains a number that surprises almost every buyer who has shopped Vail first. In Vail, the transfer tax on a home sale is a familiar 1%, a rate that has stayed frozen for decades. Cross the valley into Beaver Creek and the equivalent charge, called the Real Estate Transfer Assessment, runs 2.375% of fair market value. On a $4 million purchase, that is the difference between a $40,000 line item and a $95,000 one. The gap is not a rounding error, and it is not random. It exists because Beaver Creek is not a town at all.
There Is No Mayor Setting This Rate
Beaver Creek has no incorporated town government, no elected council, no mayor. It sits inside unincorporated Eagle County. The organization that performs the functions a town hall would handle, transportation, village security, marketing, snow removal on common areas, is Beaver Creek Resort Company, a private entity that collects assessments on real estate sales and rentals in place of the tax structure a municipality would use.
That distinction matters at the closing table. When Vail voters want to raise their transfer tax, they vote on it, and the rate is capped by a 1992 constitutional freeze that this desk has written about before. When Beaver Creek's assessments change, they move through Beaver Creek Resort Company's own governance, not a town ballot open to every resident. The RETA is collected every single time title changes hands, and the company's own materials specify that even quit claim deeds or special warranty deeds transferred for zero consideration require a RETA Exemption Form on file. There is no version of a Beaver Creek closing where this line item quietly disappears.
What You're Actually Stacking at Closing
The transfer assessment is the number buyers notice first, but it is not the only layer. Beaver Creek Resort Company collects several distinct assessments, and they apply at different moments for different reasons.
| Assessment | Rate | Applies To |
|---|---|---|
| Real Estate Transfer Assessment (RETA) | 2.375% of fair market value | Every real estate sale, collected at closing |
| Civic Assessment | 5.35% | Taxable retail sales and rental income |
| Lodging Civic Assessment | 0.96% | Short-term rental nights under 30 days |
| Common Assessment | Capped at 20 mills on assessed valuation | Annual, separate from property tax and HOA dues |
The Civic and Lodging Civic Assessments together add up to roughly 6% on short-term rental income, a figure Eagle County officials themselves cited last fall when explaining why Beaver Creek Resort Company had leverage in the county's own tax debate. If you plan to rent the property short-term, and your rental crosses four days in a given month, you also need a Lodging Beaver Creek Business License before you can legally collect that income. None of this replaces your building's HOA dues or your Eagle County property tax bill. It sits on top of both.
The Fight That Shows Whose Interests This Serves
Last November, Eagle County put a ballot measure in front of voters asking to double the county's existing lodging tax from 2% to 4%, with the new revenue earmarked for early childhood care and public safety. Beaver Creek Resort Company publicly opposed the increase. Commissioner McQueeney's comment about buses, flowers, and cookies came directly from that fight, and it was not a throwaway line. She was drawing a distinction between what the existing assessments fund, a polished visitor experience, and what they do not fund, housing or care for the people who work there.
The measure passed by a narrow 55-vote margin in the unofficial results. But the more interesting thread for a buyer is what came up in the same conversation: the possibility that Beaver Creek could incorporate as its own town. McQueeney pointed out that counties cannot levy a lift-ticket tax, but towns can, and that an incorporated Beaver Creek would answer to its own elected board rather than to Beaver Creek Resort Company's leadership. Nothing has been decided. But the fact that incorporation is even on the table tells you the current fee structure, private and unelected, is under real pressure, and that pressure could eventually reshape what buyers pay and who decides the rate.
Layers That Don't Show Up in the RETA Math
Not every Beaver Creek fee is mandatory. The Beaver Creek Property Owners Association, formed in 1990, is a separate and voluntary $300-a-year membership with more than 650 property owners on its rolls, run by a 25-member volunteer board. It is a different animal entirely from BCRC's assessments, and it has quietly shaped daily life in ways worth knowing about. When residents near the Beaver Creek Tennis Center complained about pickleball court noise, the BCPOA worked with the resort company to install sound barrier panels and switch to quiet paddles. When Beaver Creek Resort Company finalized plans for the new Creekside Park, the BCPOA made sure Creekside owners had input before construction. Membership also gets you dinner discounts at spots like Alpine + Antlers, Charter Steakhouse, and Grouse Mountain Grill, a small but real perk if you plan to eat in the village often.
If you're buying with an eye toward renovation, one more layer applies before you swing a hammer. Every remodel, addition, or exterior change goes through the Beaver Creek Design Review Board, a five-member panel that includes a Resort Company representative, two architectural professionals, and two property owners recommended by the BCPOA. Recent meeting records show the kind of projects that pass through this process regularly, remodels on Beaver Creek Drive, an exterior renovation at Meadow Ridge, a conceptual new-construction review for a project called Arcadian on Beaver Creek. If your purchase plan includes updating the property, build DRB review time into your timeline before you close, not after.
What This Means Before You Write an Offer
None of this should scare a serious buyer away from Beaver Creek. The village-to-village ski connectivity, the concierge-level service, the Vilar Performing Arts Center, all of it is real and it is why the market commands the prices it does. But the math on a Beaver Creek closing statement looks different from a Vail one, and the reason is structural, not incidental. You are buying into a resort run by a private company standing in for a town government, and that company's assessment schedule, not a municipal code, sets your transfer cost.
Before you make an offer, ask your title company or Beaver Creek Resort Company directly for the exact RETA and common assessment figures tied to the specific parcel, since Beaver Creek Village, Bachelor Gulch, and Arrowhead each operate under their own gate and fee arrangements. If short-term rental income is part of your plan, run the Civic and Lodging Civic Assessments against your projected revenue before you commit to a price, not after.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Real Estate Transfer Assessment the same thing as my building's HOA dues? No. The RETA is collected by Beaver Creek Resort Company separately from any HOA or condo association dues tied to your specific building, and separately from the annual common assessment.
Does the 2.375% RETA rate apply the same way in Beaver Creek Village, Bachelor Gulch, and Arrowhead? Each village operates its own gate and fee structure, so confirm the specific entity and rate tied to your deed with your title company or Beaver Creek Resort Company before closing.
What if the transfer is a gift or has zero consideration? Beaver Creek Resort Company still requires a RETA Exemption Form on file for quit claim deeds or special warranty deeds transferred for zero consideration.
If I plan to rent my Beaver Creek property short-term, what else do I owe? You owe the Civic Assessment and Lodging Civic Assessment on rental income, and if the property is rented more than four days in any given month, you need a Lodging Beaver Creek Business License before renting.
If you're weighing a purchase in Beaver Creek Village, Bachelor Gulch, or Arrowhead and want the real all-in math run before you write a number on paper, Ben Finn can walk through the transfer assessment, the rental math, and the design review timeline with you line by line. Reach out for a complimentary home valuation and a straight conversation about what a Beaver Creek closing actually costs.
