#Summit County #Colorado
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| Summit Daily Photo |
Summit County's most recent sales-tax reports show that Breckenridge, Silverthorne, Frisco and Dillon have started the year 6 to 31 percent ahead of where they were after the first month of 2017.
Throughout last year, Summit County's four biggest towns registered record-setting sales tax revenue, each logging from 3.3 to 9.7 percent growth and continuing an upward trend that dates back to the end of the recession.
According to the towns' most recent financial reports, this January marked one of the best starts to a year ever for taxable sales with Dillon finishing the month up 31.1 percent, Breckenridge up 10.5 percent, Silverthorne up 8.2 percent and Frisco up 6.1 percent compared to January 2017.
Pinpointing some of the leading economic sectors, Silverthorne saw a sharp spike in sales at the outlet mall, which accounts for roughly one-fifth of the town's overall sales tax receipts.
At the same time, Frisco's restaurants posted double-digit gains while Breckenridge was buoyed by increased traffic in general retail, restaurants and bars, and other sectors.
BRECK BUSINESS
Overall, Breckenridge's estimated net taxable sales surged 10.5 percent in January compared to January 2017.
Breckenridge generally has smaller percentage fluctuations than other towns in Summit County do, largely because, with more than a half-billion dollars in taxable retail sales in town, it takes a lot more to move the percentages one way or another than it does for other Summit County towns.
Drilling down to the individual sectors, Breckenridge lodging accommodations were up a whopping 17.7 percent in January, which the town attributes to an "increased number of monthly returns filed."
Also, grocery and liquor sales were up 22.8 percent over January 2017 while Breckenridge's restaurants and bars (9.6 percent), retail (5.4 percent) and marijuana (2.8 percent) businesses also saw gains.
On the other side, construction was down 11.5 percent in Breckenridge compared to January 2017. However, construction also experienced the highest growth rate of 2017 at 9.22 percent over 2016.
SILVERTHORNE SALES
Reaching $885,926 in January, Silverthorne's estimated sales-tax collections were up 8.2 percent vs. January 2017.
One encouraging piece of that is the Outlets at Silverthorne, which account for roughly one-fifth of the town's overall sales-tax receipts, were up almost $40,000 compared to the first month of 2017, an increase of more than 27 percent.
The most recent financial report summarizes January's sales taxes collected in February, according to Silverthorne revenue administrator Kathy Marshall, who attributed growth at the outlets to new tenants while adding that a new Levi's store opened there about three weeks ago.
In the report, Marshall also highlighted increases in consumer retail (15.5 percent), lodging (14.5 percent), food and liquor (5.1 percent) and service (3.7 percent) categories, while acknowledging dips in automotive (9.7 percent) and building retail (7.4 percent).
In her report, Marshall explained the decline in automotive as a result of reduced revenue from collision repairs and auto sales, while the slight depression in building retail was blamed on "inflated" collections from one vendor in January 2017, as well as slower sales and equipment rentals.
FRISCO FINANCES
With more than $156,000 in estimated monthly sale taxes for January by themselves, Frisco's restaurants were up 10.9 percent compared to January 2017. Along with general retail and grocery, restaurants are easily one of the most impactful sectors for the town.
Additionally, furnishings (29.1 percent), office (21.9 percent), general retail (9.3 percent), liquor (6.55 percent) and grocery (4 percent) all saw increases compared to January 2017, helping Frisco finish the month 6.1 percent above January 2017 at $860,008 overall.
Frisco also saw strong growth in the gifts (71.3 percent), clothing (44.27 percent), and health and beauty (98.6 percent) sectors. However, with clothing leading all three in January at just over $12,000 in sales-tax revenue, they remain a fraction of town's overall collections.
Frisco also breaks its lodging industry into two distinct categories — hotels and inns and vacation rentals. While hotels and inns were down 5.7 percent, vacation rentals were up a whopping 82.5 percent.
DILLON DOLLARS
Dillon's lodging tax was mostly flat in January, up just 0.11 percent, but the town still saw the highest rate of increase in its estimated sales-tax revenues last January compared to any other town in the county.
It should be noted some of that the high-percentage growth — over 31.1 percent — is somewhat a product of a slower-than-normal January 2017, in which Dillon was 16 percent behind January 2016.
Still, with sales-tax collections at $712,751 in January, it was almost one-third more than what Dillon had during the first month of 2017 ($543,619), which was actually less than the amount collected in January 2016 ($560,144).
In fact, Dillon spent the first half of 2017 lagging behind 2016 year-to-date figures before catching up and piling on the gains in the second half. With January already far ahead of January 2017, that won't be happening again this year.
