Home

Steamboat Springs — Steamboat Springs' sales tax collections for March were up 3.1 percent from March 2007, according to city figures.

The city breaks down figures by area: town, mountain, U.S. Highway 40 corridor, regional and west Steamboat. Of those areas, west Steamboat saw the largest decrease. Sales tax collections were down 6.38 percent compared with March 2007, $168,990 to $158,293.

The regional area, which Sales Tax Auditor Lisa Erbes said includes everything outside the other four categories, saw the biggest increase: 20.96 percent. Collections were $271,796 for March 2008, compared with $224,702 last year.

Erbes couldn't explain that jump.

"We had some strange ups and downs this month," Erbes said. "We looked at it more and looked at some specific accounts and couldn't track the reasoning for that. Unfortunately, this month, your guess is as good as mine."

Erbes said basic market fluctuations probably accounted for the figures.

The overall increase for March was smaller than usual, Erbes said, because of businesses in Ski Time Square and around the mountain that were slowing down and closing. Ski Time Square is set to be demolished this summer.

March 2008 building-use tax collections fell 41.52 percent from March 2007. They were down 36.17 percent year-to-date, at $151,038 from $236,613.

Building-use tax collections depend on construction projects, Erbes said. When developers get permits, they pay a tax based on the estimated cost of materials.

"Usually, when we see a spike in the building use tax, it's because a permit was issued for a big project," she said.

For example, the figures spiked in October when the permits were issued for One Steamboat Place, she said.

"My guess is probably because we had more snow this winter, people are getting a little bit slower start getting their permits pulled," Erbes said. "As the weather gets warmer, we'll see the building use tax increase. I think last March we had a little bit more because the snow melted quicker."

In March sales tax collections, Steamboat was on the low end compared with other areas in the Colorado Association of Ski Towns.

Dillon's sales tax collections rose the most, 17.81 percent from March 2007. Grand Junction's were up 13.55 percent, and Vail's sales tax collections were up 9.84 percent. Winter Park and Snowmass saw decreases of 0.95 percent and 0.24 percent, respectively.

"It could depend on how much snow some of the other ski areas had," Erbes said of those figures. "It may have to do with the construction we have at the ski area. I think we're going to continue to see that play a role in sales taxes because a lot of places closed down while that construction is going on at the base area."