Correction: Officials in Ligonier Township and the Ligonier Valley School District agreed in 1999 to place a cap on the amusement tax at Laurel Mountain Ski Area. This editorial included incorrect information. (11/15/2004 at 10:30 p.m.)
The announced reopening of the Laurel Mountain ski area by Seven Springs Mountain Resort has been met with smiles and anticipation of a new life, at least for one season, for the shuttered resort.
In a deal with Somerset Trust Co., which owns the ski area's assets, Seven Springs will open the facility as The Springs at Laurel Mountain. It is hoped the arrangement will lead to a long-term solution for the troubled slopes, which closed last year after being buried by a blizzard of financial problems.
As plans advance and enthusiasm builds for a grand reopening, a few words of caution: Any future operation at Laurel Mountain must succeed or fail on the operators' dime -- not the public's. Not this time.
Just in case anyone has forgotten, taxpayers shelled out $200,000 in grant money plus a $300,000 loan, courtesy of the state Department of Community and Economic Development, when the resort reopened in '99.
Add to that a generous agreement with Ligonier officials to cap the amusement tax that the former operator, Laurel Mountain Ski Co.
Despite government's costly intervention in a private concern in which it had no business, the resort reportedly never saw a profit.
If Seven Springs can make a go of the shuttered resort, great. That's what private enterprise is all about.
