Aspen sees stronger‑than‑expected taxable sales; officials keep conservative 2026 forecast

Tyler Sexton, interim finance director, told the Aspen City Council on July 7 that taxable sales through April were “up 7% year to date,” a stronger start than the city’s current budget assumed. Sexton and budget staff said the move to state tax collections altered industry coding (for example, liquor and marijuana are now grouped), creating short‑term volatility in some sectors while the new mapping settles in.

Sexton highlighted that accommodations, restaurants, clothing, miscellaneous and construction combined for about 80% of taxable sales and that automobiles showed an artificial decline of roughly 77% because of the switch from local sales tax reporting to use‑tax accounting. He walked the council through an illustrative calculation that produced an approximate annualized taxable base and said staff is using conservative assumptions — including a 15% placeholder decrease for a possible airport shutdown — when modeling lodging and sales tax receipts for 2025–26. "We do anticipate a slowdown about 4% from May to June," Sexton said as he framed the year‑end outlook.

Council members pressed for detail on whether the city still conducts spot audits under the state collection regime; staff said the state now handles most audits and will follow up if the state identifies issues. Sexton and Matt Grau, the city’s budget manager, also reviewed the real estate transfer tax (638 transactions and about $23.8 million in collections in 2024), lodging tax projections (about $141 million in taxable lodging for 2025 in staff estimates) and the city’s investment profile (approximately $430 million invested with an annualized return near 3.9%). Councilors asked staff for follow‑up on how the state maps business categories and for more detail on fund balances and reserves.