NP sales tax reaches another monthly high
July 18, 2024 | North Platte Telegraph -By Todd VonKampen
North Platte's city sales tax reached two new monthly peaks in May, according to the latest figures from the Nebraska Department of Revenue.
May proceeds from the combined 2% tax netted nearly $1.476 million, setting the city's 15th straight monthly record in online state figures dating to 2006.
The total topped not only last year's May record of $1.225 million but also North Platte's previous record for any month of $1.442 million this March.
The city has taken in nearly $13.43 million in 2023-24 sales tax dollars so far, with two months' worth of net proceeds — June's and July's — set to be received before the fiscal year's end Sept. 30.
The sales tax's May take also ensured that North Platte's Quality Growth Fund for economic development aid will receive its maximum $650,000 annual cash infusion for the third straight year.
The city has a permanent 1.5% local sales tax, which rose temporarily to 2% when a voter-approved half-cent boost for recreation projects took effect on April 1, 2023.
North Platte's streak of monthly sales-tax records began in March 2023, the last month before the half-cent increase. The streak would still be intact even under the "base" 1.5% tax, according to Revenue Department figures.
Meanwhile, Lincoln County's 4% lodging tax netted $94,200 for countywide tourism promotion in May.Net proceeds for that month were in six figures the three previous years, topped by a $114,688 net take in 2023.
The hotel-motel tax closed out the 2023-24 state and county fiscal years with record net collections of just over $1.27 million. May's proceeds were the first for the new 2024-25 fiscal year.
Local sales and lodging taxes come back to communities and counties about six weeks after each month closes. The Revenue Department retains small processing fees from gross proceeds.

See original article here: https://nptelegraph.com/np-sales-tax-reaches-another-monthly-high/article_386760e8-b942-5df3-a40e-f3846c658da4.html