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City economist: gross receipts tax growth mixed; council presses for online-sales detail
Summary
City economist Christine Burner reported modest year-to-date growth in gross receipts tax revenue and highlighted volatility across sectors; councilors pressed staff for more detailed online sales and sector breakdowns to guide budgeting.
The Albuquerque City Council received its monthly gross receipts tax (GRT) update on Monday, hearing that year-to-date receipts were modestly above the projection incorporated in the FY2025 budget but with mixed sector performance.
City Economist Christine Burner told the council that January distributions were down 1.1% compared with the prior year but February rebounded to 4.7% growth. Cumulatively through January (year to date for FY25) GRT growth based on the city’s model rose to about 2.6%, slightly above the 2.1% growth assumption in the current budget.
Burner said most business sectors excluding the state’s food and medical “hold harmless” disbursements were up 3.7% for February and up about 1.3% year to date; construction and professional, scientific and technical services were performing relatively well, while retail has struggled in FY25.
Councilors used the presentation to press for more granular data. Councilor Lewis and others asked whether the retail figures represented multi-month trends or one-month variation; Burner said construction can be lumpy month to month and pledged to investigate specific months and drivers. Several councilors pressed staff to obtain a state breakdown of online sales, which the city’s GRT reports do not separately identify.
Burner said the state currently does not provide online-sales subtotals in the standard distribution data and that the state would need to change reporting systems to produce that breakdown. Councilor Rogers and others suggested local work-arounds: obtaining the state RP-80 reports that include NAICS codes and using the NAICS 454110 electronic shopping/mail-order classification to approximate on-line activity.
Councilor Pena asked staff to follow up with the state and to bring available RP-80 or NAICS-based estimates back to the council; several councilors requested that Burner bring updated forecasts after the UNM/Biebr economic forecast meeting on May 2. Burner also noted national forecasters’ characterization of an uncertain macro outlook and said S&P Global sees a baseline “growth recession” scenario as approximately the 50% baseline.
No council action was required during the briefing. Members said the data will inform FY26 budget discussions and urged staff to pursue better online-sales and sector-specific detail ahead of the city’s next budget cycle.
