{"id":2451815,"date":"2019-12-03T21:55:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-04T04:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=317003"},"modified":"2019-12-03T21:55:00","modified_gmt":"2019-12-04T04:55:00","slug":"basalts-summer-business-bounces-back-after-flaming-out-in-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/basalts-summer-business-bounces-back-after-flaming-out-in-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Basalt\u2019s summer business bounces back after flaming out in 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Basalt businesses bounced back this summer from the economic turmoil levied the prior year by the Lake Christine Fire, a town government sales tax report indicates.<\/p>\n

Sales were up 8.2 percent in September compared to the same month in 2018, according to a report by town finance director Christy Hamrick.<\/p>\n

That follows the trend sent earlier this summer: the August sales tax report showed growth of 10.8%, July was up 4.5% and June surged 9.7%.<\/p>\n

The monthly tax reports reflect actual sales for the prior month because there is a month delay in paying the taxes. Therefore, the reports show strong sales for May through August \u2014 Basalt\u2019s strongest tourist season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe month of September comparison was up 8.2% between September 2018 and September 2019, which is attributable to the Lake Christine Fire last year,\u201d Hamrick\u2019s report said.<\/p>\n

The Lake Christine Fire struck July 3 last year. The threat of wildfire closed businesses throughout the midvalley during the busy Fourth of July weekend. Heavy smoke diminished travel by second-home owners and visitors through the summer.<\/p>\n

Therefore, this year\u2019s sales should show an increase. For the year-to-date through September, Basalt town government has collected $4.8 million this year. That is an increase of 7.5% from the $4.47 million collected at the same time in 2018. It\u2019s also ahead of the record pace established in 2017.<\/p>\n

Every major sector of the economy is up so far this year from 2018 except restaurants, the latest report showed.<\/p>\n

Retail food sales, anchored by the City Market and Whole Foods, were up 2.3% from the year before. They accounted for $1.7 million in sales tax revenue.<\/p>\n

General retails sales shops were up 25.7% while sporting good retail was up 3.8%. General retail accounted for $926,114 in sales tax revenue through September.<\/p>\n

Lodging is posting the strongest showing in 2019 with sales up 26.9%, the report showed.<\/p>\n

Sales by automotive-related businesses were up 8.9% year-to-date while building materials were up 24.5%.<\/p>\n

The only blemish in sales through the third quarter was by restaurants with bars, down 0.5%, and restaurants without bars, down 9.6%.<\/p>\n

The town government anticipates achieving the budgeted amount for 2019 in sales tax revenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cSales tax for 2018 totaled $6,086,425, and the Town budgeted $6,425,113 for 2019, representing a 5.5% increase in sales tax budgeted,\u201d Hamrick wrote. \u201cWe are currently on track to achieve or exceed our budget goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sales tax revenues are vital to the town\u2019s budget. Sales tax funds will produce about 60% of the general fund revenue in 2020, according to the town budget. Additional sales tax goes the parks, open space and trails fund.<\/p>\n

scondon@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Basalt businesses bounced back this summer from the economic turmoil levied the prior year by the Lake Christine Fire, a town government sales tax report indicates. Sales were up 8.2 percent in September compared to the same month in 2018, according to a report by town finance director Christy Hamrick. That follows the trend sent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2451815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 04:00:02","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2451815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2451815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2451815\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2451815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2451815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2451815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}