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Steamboat Springs — Sales tax collections in Steamboat Springs decreased by 5 percent in April from the previous year. But a couple of categories actually increased.

The city was caught off-guard by a nearly 34 percent increase in sales taxes collected from lodging, Revenue Supervisor Kim Weber said. Lodging sales tax increased to $80,263 from $60,052 in 2008.

Weber attributed that to the ski season being open an extra week this year and a particularly poor April in 2008, which was down 40 percent from 2007.

"We're not back up to the numbers of 2007, so that's a little deceiving," she said about the increase in lodging sales tax. "April 2009 has just fallen in line with the other months. We're seeing a downturn from last year, and April was no different."

The other sales tax category to increase in April was utilities, which increased by 4.3 percent, to $170,640 from $163,540 last year. Weber said that's likely because more buildings this year used electricity that was more expensive.

Miscellaneous retail represented the largest decline in sales taxes from last year at 13.6 percent. Sales tax revenue generated from liquor stores decreased by 2.7 percent, and sporting goods and restaurants each decreased by less than 1 percent from a year ago.

"They're all where we expected them to be, except lodging," Weber said. Throughout Steamboat, the area that saw the biggest boost in revenue from sales tax collections from last year was mountain-combined, which increased nearly 30 percent from 2008. West Steamboat decreased at the largest clip, by 25 percent. In town, sales tax collections decreased by 10 percent. But the largest areas that generate revenue from sales taxes, the U.S. Highway 40 corridor and regional, decreased by 3.9 and 3.2 percent, respectively.

April is historically the slowest month of the year as the city transitions from ski to mud season, Weber said. So the total April sales tax collected, $948,495 - down from $999,109 in 2008 - pales in comparison to the $2 million the city collected in March. But March was off by 22.5 percent from 2008.

Taking April into account, which brought the year-to-date sales tax decline to 12 percent in Steamboat's general fund, Weber said the city is trending below its projection of 19 percent less sales taxes than last year in the 2009 budget.

Year-to-date sales taxes are down 16.4 percent in Steamboat this year compared with last. That compares favorably to other mountain towns Aspen, Breckenridge, Vail and Glenwood, who've seen their year-to-date sales taxes decrease from 15 percent to 19 percent in 2009.

"All other tourist areas are declining just as we are right now," Weber said.

- To reach Jack Weinstein, call 871-4203 or e-mail jweinstein@steamboatpilot.com.