Sales tax numbers take huge dive in town last November

December expected to be off as well

The town of Crested Butte took one of the biggest hits ever in the sales tax department in November of last year. According to the sales tax report, the town in November 2008 was off 20 percent from November of 2007.

Crested Butte collected $92,318 in November. That compares to $114,666 collected in 2007.
Looking at the different categories, construction was off 33 percent, bars and restaurants saw a 16 percent decrease, grocery sales were down 10 percent, retail sales tax was down 21 percent, lodging was off 27 percent and the service sector saw a 38 percent decrease.
The category listed as “other,” which includes sales tax collected from electric and gas bills, was actually up 8 percent.
Town sales tax collection is off 2.6 percent for the year 2008 so far. “December will likely be off,” said Crested Butte finance director Lois Rozman. “There was no ski-free promotion this year and that will have a big impact. I’ve also heard from businesses they were down last month. We budgeted conservatively for 2008, so compared to our budget numbers, we are almost flat.”
The December numbers will be released at the end of January.