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January sales-tax report shows muted growth, budget analyst says
Summary
Aurora's budget office reported $30.2 million in January 2026 sales-tax collections, a 0.2% increase from January 2025; consistent taxpayers rose while variable sales declined sharply, and staff flagged preliminary February figures showing a roughly 6.5% drop year-over-year.
Richard Goggins, a budget office analyst, told the Aurora Management and Finance Policy Committee that January 2026 sales tax collections totaled $30.2 million, a 0.2% increase from January 2025. He said collections from consistent taxpayers rose about 2.4% while so-called variable sales taxpayers saw collections fall nearly 25% year-over-year.
Goggins noted that January figures reflect the end of the 2025 holiday sales period; for the two-month holiday period overall, sales grew about $996,000 (roughly 1.9%) compared with the previous year. He also reported that online holiday sales grew by about 8–9%, in line with annual online growth.
Committee members pressed staff on how percent changes were calculated. Goggins explained a 2024 shift in remittance frequency—many payers moved from quarterly to monthly remitting—so 2025 comparisons were more "apples to apples" and 2026 is largely comparable to 2025. He cautioned the figures remain muted relative to expectations.
Before the meeting Goggins said he received preliminary February totals that he had not yet verified; those numbers appeared to show a more than 6.5% decrease compared with February 2025, a pattern he flagged for the committee.
The committee did not take action on the sales-tax report; members treated it as informational and asked staff to continue monitoring collections and provide the verified February data when available.
