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Fremont County reports mixed sales-tax results; state software error delays lodging-tax distributions
Summary
At a May meeting, Fremont County budget staff reported March retail sales and some auto-use taxes rose year over year while year-to-date totals remain below 2024 and behind budget; county staff said a state software programming error held back lodging-tax distributions for the quarter.
At a May meeting of the Fremont County Board of County Commissioners, Budget and Finance Officer Sean Sutton reported mixed results for the county's sales- and use-tax collections and said a state software programming error has delayed lodging-tax distributions.
Sutton told the commissioners Fremont County's portion of March 2025 retail sales tax totaled $797,548, $32,637 more than March 2024. Year-to-date retail collections for the county were $2,023,049, $93,457 less than the comparable 2024 total and $76,951 behind the current budget.
Sutton also reported April 2025 auto-use sales tax (county share) of $143,326, $15,385 above April 2024; he said year-to-date auto-use collections were $469,800.55, $12,217 below 2024 but ahead of budget by $44,885.
On lodging tax, Sutton read an email from the state saying county lodging distributions did not post because of what the state described as a software programming issue associated with the implementation of the visitor's benefit tax. The state message, as read by Sutton, said developers have been alerted and are working to resolve the problem and that the state would notify counties when the issue is fixed. County staff said the quarterly lodging report showed a significantly smaller distribution than historical quarterly collections, leaving the county behind both 2024 and budget for that revenue line.
Sutton also gave sheriff-related collections: the sheriff's retail sales-tax share for March 2025 was $531,699, $21,758 more than March 2024; year-to-date sheriff retail collections were $1,348,699, $62,305 less than 2024 and slightly behind budget by about $138,801. The sheriff's portion of April auto-use tax was reported at $95,551, $10,257 more than April 2024, with year-to-date auto-use collections of $313,257, $8,145 less than 2024 but ahead of budget by $34,924.
Sutton said early warm-season trends and tourism historically boost receipts but cautioned it was too soon to draw conclusions for the rest of the year. Commissioners did not take any formal action on the report; they thanked Sutton and asked staff to continue monitoring collections and to update the board when the state resolves the lodging-tax distribution issue.
The board's finance summary provides officials with revenue signals used in budget monitoring; the lodging-tax delay means county revenue for that fund remains subject to revision when the state's software issue is corrected.
