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Aurora staff: sales-tax growth slowed in 2024; projection shortfall of about $2.1 million
Summary
City budget staff told the committee December sales-tax data show slower growth late in 2024 and an estimated $2.1 million shortfall versus projection, offset by stronger auto and interest receipts.
Bill Levine, a budget office analyst, told the committee the city’s December 2024 sales-tax chart shows growth rates “tended to slow over the course of 2024,” and that staff are estimating the city will miss its 2024 sales-tax projection by $2,100,000.
Levine said use-tax collections were also below projections but that higher-than-expected revenues in several other areas — notably auto-related recoveries and interest income — are expected to allow the general fund to meet its overall revenue target for the year.
The presentation separated collections by sector. Levine said staff track 15 sectors; “for the entire year 2024, we had 9 that showed an increase and 6 that showed a decrease.” He named a category he called “other top taxpayers” — driven largely by online sales from firms such as Amazon, Etsy, eBay and Wayfair — as the best-performing group. The weakest sector, he said, was utilities, which were down 4.7 percent compared with 2023 collections because very high energy prices in early 2023 were not repeated.
Committee members asked no substantive follow-up questions during the meeting; Levine offered to provide more detailed sector-level data if requested.
