December milestone caps 6-year doubling of North Platte's sales-tax intake
February 17, 2025 | North Platte Telegraph
 
After recording their first-ever $1.5 million month in December, North Platte’s local sales tax proceeds have doubled in actual dollars in six years.

Net collections for the city’s combined 2% sales tax topped $1.52 million for the month including Christmas, rising 6% from the nearly $1.44 million received in December 2023.

That toppled North Platte’s all-time monthly record of nearly $1.48 million in May and closed the books on 2024 collections totaling almost $16.32 million.

Lincoln County’s 4% lodging tax fell short of a calendar-year record, ending 2024 with almost $1.25 million collected for tourism promotion. Net December hotel-motel tax receipts were $64,429.

The just-concluded year was the first full year for North Platte’s temporary, voter-approved half-cent sales tax increase for recreation projects. Approved by voters in 2022, it took effect in April 2023.

But North Platte’s permanent 1.5% sales tax accounted for nearly $12.24 million of the overall $16.32 million total, based on figures from the Nebraska Department of Revenue.

Net proceeds for the permanent portion of the sales tax grew by 8% over 2023 and was 52.3% higher than the $8.03 million received from the 1.5% tax in 2018.

With the extra half-cent included, the city’s sales tax collections have grown over the six-year period by 103.1%.

Monthly sales tax records have fallen regularly in North Platte since June 2020, as the city began to emerge from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 4½-year-long rally has been propelled by multiple local investments since then. They include the 2020 facelift of the downtown Canteen District, the former Platte River Mall’s transformation into District 177 under way since 2021 and construction of the Sustainable Beef meatpacking plant set to start production in April.

“It’s definitely a sign of North Platte’s robust economy, the amount of ongoing construction activity and most of all the additional retail shopping venues, 19 new restaurants and food outlets and new motels we’ve added to our business family in recent years,” said Gary Person, president and CEO of the North Platte Area Chamber & Development Corp.

“North Platte’s hard work and willingness to embrace programs that entice new developments have made a significant difference,” he added. “When we work together for the betterment of our community, good things happen. We’re going to keep winning the battle.”

The county hotel-motel tax notched its own milestone during 2024, though room rentals cooled enough in November and December to leave the full-year total 1.9% below 2023’s record of $1.27 million.
June’s net lodging tax receipts nearly topped $200,000 for the first time in any month in online Revenue Department records dating to 2006.

They set an all-time record of $199,268 for North Platte’s annual “festival month,” which starts with the Miss Nebraska and Miss Rodeo Nebraska competitions and culminates with Nebraskaland Days.

Original source: https://nptelegraph.com/news/local/business/north-platte-sales-tax-county-lodging/article_9a1952ea-ed76-11ef-b84e-bb262594a22e.html#tracking-source=home-top-story