TELLURIDE BRIEFS | First Quarter Financials Show Strong Start to Year
May 28, 2013
TELLURIDE – The Town of Telluride is well on its way to another healthy and possibly record sales tax year. Data for the first financial quarter show town coffers to be 10 percent ahead of last year for January, February and March in terms of sales tax income.
January 2013 and February 2013, with $439,156 and $458,983 in sales tax revenues respectively, showed the second highest sales tax revenues for those months ever, while the month of March set a new record at $552,392, compared to $505,321 in 2012.
It’s beginning to look like a nice new trend. While 2012 got off to a light start, it turned out to be Telluride’s greatest sales tax year on record, with funds totaling almost $4.5 million, a 3 percent increase over 2011.
Business licenses in 2013 are ahead so far too, reported Town Finance Director Lynne Beck at last week’s Telluride Town Council meeting, partially because of the town’s recently adopted MUNIRevs system helps track both sales tax and business licenses remittance.
Spending within the various town departments, meanwhile, is “right on for one quarter,” according to Beck’s report. Enterprise funds, as well, are on target for 25 percent of the budget.
The only dim spots in Beck’s report related to property taxes, which, to date, have shown a substantial drop of 20 percent over last year, reflecting the market conditions of appraisals conducted two years ago at the bottom of the real estate slump, and Real Estate Transfer Tax revenues which are coming in below projections so far in 2013.
Contributing to Telluride’s bumper crop of sales tax revenues in the first quarter of 2013 was the addition of the low-cost carrier Allegiant Air to the Colorado Flights Alliance (formerly Telluride- Montrose Regional Air Organization) suite of subsidized airfare into the region. “We would have had a flat number of airline seats had we not had Allegiant, which brought in 4,000 more bodies and contributed to the winter season,” said Councilor Chris Myers.
Those extra bodies significantly boost sales and lodging tax for the town.
Unfortunately, Allegiant has suspended service to the region for the summer season, but Myers said it is hoped that the carrier will serve the Montrose and Telluride region again next winter.
For more information on Telluride area real estate, please contact Telluride Real Estate Corp. at 970-728-6655, info@telluriderealestatecorp.com or visit www.telluriderealestatecorp.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment