Friday, May 8, 2009

Blows keep coming for Ketchum LOT

City revenues lag behind budget projections

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By JON DUVAL
Express Staff Writer

Ketchum hotels experienced a quiet end to the winter, as evidenced by city local option tax receipts for the lodging sector in March. With summer around the corner, business will likely pick up for Erik Laughin, shown here working the desk at the Kentwood Lodge on Main Street.

What Ketchum residents and workers saw two months ago was reaffirmed by hard data, as local option tax receipts took another big dip in March.

The city reported this week that its March LOT revenue of $113,880 was down 36 percent compared to March 2008.

This brings the total of LOT revenues for the first seven months of the 2008-2009 fiscal year to just under $943,000, about $335,000 less than what was budgeted by the city at the beginning of the fiscal year, which for LOT runs from September through August.

LOT revenues through the first seven months of the previous fiscal year were $1.23 million.

Ketchum imposes a 2 percent sales tax on lodging and by-the-glass liquor sales, and a 1 percent tax on retail sales and building materials, with the goal of offsetting the impacts of tourism on city services and infrastructure.

LOT figures are one of the primary gauges of the success of the local economy.

Hotel receipts showed the biggest proportional decrease, falling by 51 percent compared to the same period one year earlier.

Retail sales receipts experienced the greatest monetary decrease, bringing in nearly $34,000 less than in March of last year.

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The other three categories saw significant declines as well, with 47, 41 and 37 percent decreases for condominium, building materials and liquor receipts, respectively.

Jon Duval: jduval@mtexpress.com