Tax collection down, but county budget stable

MONTROSE — The amount of use tax the county's been able to collect through May fell along with building permits.

But, county officials say, conservative budgeting for anticipated moneys from the use tax and the sales tax has minimized the impact.

"We're doing well. Our revenues look stable against the revenues that we're spending," County Engineer Brian Wilson said. "We're not having any crisis programs. We did budget and plan conservatively this year."

Voters passed a 1-percent sales or use tax in 2007 for the road and bridge department, and also passed a 0.75-percent sales tax for public safety.

The county collects the use tax on building permits. Separately, the state collects the use tax on motor vehicle registrations and also collects sales and other taxes, remitting the money to the county.

Seventy-seven building permits were issued through May. That's down by 32 percent from 2008. The use tax collected on those permits was $16,288 through May; down by 25 percent from last year.

The total valuation on the permits was $3.7 million, which is down by 52 percent. Fifteen of the 77 permits were for single-family residences; valuation was more than $2 million, a decrease of 55 percent.

Revenues remitted to the county from the Department of Revenue for motor vehicle use tax collection stood at $148,577 through April.

The sales tax, also remitted through the DOR, was $1.5 million for road and bridge and $1.2 million for public safety through April. (There is a lag between the time merchants and service providers collect these taxes and when the state returns them to Montrose County. Efforts are still underway to pass legislation that would allow the county to collect directly).

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