{"id":2457185,"date":"2020-04-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-15T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=324335"},"modified":"2020-04-15T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-15T06:00:00","slug":"basalt-projects-15-drop-in-sales-tax-from-coronavirus-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/basalt-projects-15-drop-in-sales-tax-from-coronavirus-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Basalt projects 15% drop in sales tax from coronavirus crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Customers line up waiting for the El Jebel City Market to open on March 15. Retail foods sales aren’t expected to take as great of a hit as other parts of Basalt’s economy.<\/strong>
Scott Condon\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Basalt town government officials estimate sales tax revenue will drop $695,000, or 15%, from what was budgeted this year due to the coronavirus crisis.<\/p>\n

The general fund sales tax revenue was projected to grow to about $4.57 million this year. However, now town Finance Director Christy Hamrick and Town Manager Ryan Mahoney now estimate revenue will be $3.88 million.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a big deal for Basalt because sales taxes account for about 60% of general fund revenue. Hamrick warned the Town Council on Tuesday night that the revenue picture would be fluid for months because of all the uncertainties surrounding the coronavirus crisis. For their model, the staff assumed the stay-at-home orders<\/a> would remain in effect through June and then business would ramp up slowly and steadily through the year. There likely will be adverse budget implications lagging into 2021 and 2022, they estimated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to be conservative,\u201d Mahoney said. \u201cWe wanted to set ourselves up to endure what I think will be a marathon rather than a race.\u201d<\/p>\n

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