June didn’t take a huge sales tax hit in CB

But high-end property sales in town are exploding

By Mark Reaman

Preliminary June sales tax numbers for Crested Butte indicate what town finance director Rob Zillioux described as a “mixed bag.”

Sales taxes for the previous month are due on the 20th of the following month. This month the council meeting fell on the same day so Zillioux gave a brief update to the council on Monday, July 20 at the regular council meeting. Based on initial figures, sales tax revenue was coming in at about 4 percent lower than June 2019.

“I’ll take it,” he told the council. “It is at the lower end of my forecasts of what we could expect as a result of the coronavirus pandemic situation. It’s probably not bad for a resort town.”

While not allowed to disclose specific businesses, Zillioux did say several establishments had pretty good business in June. “Some businesses did very well,” he said. “Others weren’t open. For example, businesses that catered to the outdoors and camping did well. The restaurants were a mixed bag. You could probably see that some did really well while others didn’t match last year. It seems that the ones that were prepared and ready to open did quite well.”

The numbers show bars and restaurants were off about $22,000 for the month, or about 20 percent from a year ago in June.

“Of the 50 highest sales tax filers, 28 were up over last year, while 21 were below 2019 numbers,” Zillioux continued. “Retail was up about 8 percent overall and lodging was down. It was all very much a mixed bag. But we’ll see about July, especially with things like the Center for the Arts and the movie theater not open.”

The Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT) in town was up over the same time last year. Zillioux reported that as of June 30 the town had collected $824,054 in net RETT. That compared to $785,780 for the same period in 2019. “That is with fewer transactions this year,” Zillioux explained. “Sales prices are ballooning. Prices are skyrocketing.”

In his report to the council, Zillioux noted that in 2020, there have already been six sales between $1 million and $2 million, two sales between $2 million and $3 million and two sales above $3 million. “Town open-market properties are now officially affordable only for the wealthy,” he noted in his report, adding that the local and national income disparity is increasing rapidly.

As usual, Zillioux continued to urge caution with Town Council spending. For the year, sales tax collections are off about 11 percent, or $207,000.