Steamboat Pilot & Today

Hayden — Hayden Finance Director Lisa Dowling on Wednesday attributed her town’s 6.5 percent drop in sales tax earnings in December 2011 to reduced business at Yampa Valley Regional Airport.

She said airport revenue accounted for 41 percent of Hayden’s sales tax earnings in December 2011, a decrease from the 57 percent in December 2010.

“But hopefully, with all this beautiful snow, we’ll see a turnaround,” Dowling said.

The December drop in revenue came during a month the airport reported a 10 percent increase in arriving passengers compared with 2010. Three Wire Bar & Grill, the airport’s new restaurant, also posted near-record revenue for December despite not being open for the full month. Airport Manager Dave Ruppel reported Thursday that the restaurant brought in $113,752 in January 2012, the second-strongest January food and beverage revenue total the airport has posted in its history.

Flights with Steamboat’s winter air service program started landing at YVRA on Dec. 15, but financial records released by the town show Hayden earned $13,395 less from airport sales in December 2011 than it did in December 2010.

Hayden collects sales taxes from the airport’s car rentals, gift shop and restaurant sales. It also collects some taxes on the sale of fuel.

Dowling said it was the decrease in sales tax earnings from car rentals that accounted for a large part of December’s drop in revenue. The rentals earned the town $11,915 in sales taxes in November and December 2011, a drop from the $16,166 it earned during those months in 2010.

Dowling said collections from Hayden’s downtown businesses remained stable.

Overall, Hayden collected $80,083 in sales taxes in December 2011.

Despite the drop in collections at the end of the year, the town collected $795,435 in 2011, a $70,000 increase from 2010.

Hayden sales tax collections, 2010-11

To reach Scott Franz, call 970-871-4210 or email scottfranz@SteamboatToday.com