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Spokane County sales-tax receipts up 4.6% for December collections; year-to-date growth 1%
Summary
County finance staff reported December collections (for October sales activity) exceeded last year by 4.6%, leaving year-to-date sales-tax receipts about 1% above the prior year on a budgeted December target of $6.9 million. Staff warned of risk if consumer spending shifts toward nontaxable services and growing credit delinquencies.
Spokane County finance staff reported on Jan. 6 that December sales-tax collections, which reflect October retail activity, were 4.6% higher than the same period a year earlier and that year-to-date collections are roughly 1% above the prior year.
Jason, a county staff member who presented the report, said the county budgeted about $6,900,000 for December and that year-to-date collections total about $78,200,000. “So for December’s collections, we were 4.6% higher over the same period last year. Year to date, we’re 1% higher than we were last year,” Jason said during the strategic planning meeting.
The presentation placed the recent data in a longer context: a historical average sales-tax growth of about 4.01% dating back to 2000 (the slides did not yet include complete 2024 averages because of collection lags). Jason and commissioners noted that the recent months have shown signs of a “soft landing” in consumer activity compared with prior periods of sharper decline.
County presenters highlighted sector-level details. Retail trade was up 1% year over year; construction remained down about 4% but was improving; nonresidential building was down about 28% year over year while residential building was down about 1% and showing an uptick. New-car dealers were up about 5% year to date while used-vehicle dealers remained weaker. Food-service subsectors showed mixed results: full-service restaurants and drinking places were modestly up year to date, while some segments — driven in part by reporting irregularities earlier in the year — remained lower.
Presenters also reviewed consumer-credit indicators used to flag downside risk: a reduction in new foreclosures and bankruptcy filings from Q2 to Q3 2024, but an increase in the share of debt entering delinquency (from about 3.2% to 3.5% in one quarter) and growing home-equity-line balances for some households. Those patterns, staff said, suggest uneven household capacity to absorb costs: households with higher incomes have more available credit, while lower-income households are using more of their credit capacity.
County staff identified principal downside risks to sales-tax revenue as shifts in consumer spending toward nontaxable services and rents, and possible layoffs. Upside scenarios noted by staff included possible federal Reserve rate cuts that could bolster consumer spending. Presenters also flagged a local positive signal: U-Haul’s migration ranking showed the Spokane metro among top move-to destinations, which staff said was a favorable indicator for local demand.
Commissioners asked for the U-Haul list and for clarification on rolling averages and the historical series used in the slides. Staff said they would circulate the slides and the U-Haul list to commissioners.
The presentation was informational; no formal board action was taken on the sales-tax report during the meeting.
