Bolstered in part by holiday sales, tax collections continue to increase in the Grand Valley.
The City of Grand Junction reported a 7 percent increase in sales and use tax collections in January. Mesa County reported a 5.2 percent increase. January collections reflect December sales.
Lodging tax collections, a measure of hotel and motel stays in Grand Junction, rose 15.7 percent.
The latest numbers extend what’s been an upward trend in local tax collections.
The city collected a total of more than $5.9 million in sales and use taxes in January. That’s an increase of more than $387,000 over the same month last year. Sales tax collections rose 4.3 percent. Use tax collections, a smaller and more volatile source of revenue for the city, jumped almost 64 percent.
Mesa County collected a total of nearly $3.4 million in sales and use taxes in January, an increase of almost $167,000 over the same month last year. Sales tax collections rose 5.8 percent. Use tax collections — most on the sale of automobiles purchased outside the county, but used in the county — fell 2.2 percent.
County tax collections on retail sales fell 1.2 percent in January with a decline in sporting goods sales more than offsetting gains in the sales of clothing and health and personal care products. County sales tax collections rose for most other industry sectors, with the biggest gains in oil and natural gas, construction and manufacturing categories.
The City of Grand Junction collected $83,740 in lodging taxes in January, an increase of $11,357 over the same month last year.