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Winter Park, Fraser sales tax revenues up

Winter Park

Winter Park has a sales tax of 7 percent. The Town reports totals quarterly including in September of each year.

A transit, trails and lodging tax became effective on December 1, 2015, which increased the Town’s sales tax rate from five percent to seven percent.



According to the Winter Park sales tax report lodging and accommodation tax collections for November 2015 were inflated due to early collections by the town for reservations that were pre-booked for future months under the five percent rate. Normally the pre-booked lodging is reported in the month in which the lodging occurs (i.e. booked in November for a March stay, reported in March). For this reason, the Town’s lodging tax collections for December through the end of ski season may be lower as compared to prior years due to this one-time early reporting.

The total collected for the year in Winter Park sales tax, as of September, was $5,447,943. This number does not include the extra two percent from the transit and sales tax. Sales and lodging tax brought in $3,891,388 of that revenue, while the additional two percent transit and trails tax brought in the additional $1,556,555. Sales tax of lodging and non-lodging increased by four percent from 2015-2016.



Winter Park’s report also compares tax collections for sales, lodging, and accommodations by sector and location of each business. For the downtown Winter Park area collections were at $561,277, a seven percent increase over 2015. Tax collections for Old Town and the ski area were at $719,723, a five percent increase from last year.

According to the report if the pre-booked lodging was adjusted it is estimated that the increase for the year would total $357,000 (10 percent). Old Town, the ski area, and downtown are the highest collections for the town to-date, although overall pre-booked lodging reduces improvements for 2016. Retail and restaurant/bar sales show an average eight percent increase for the year. Retail, restaurant, and bar collections reflect strong gains in 2016 for each geographic area, and along with lodging, are trending as the highest collections year-to-date for those sectors. Summer tax collections so far (May – September) are the highest in town history exceeding the next highest year by nine percent.

Fraser

The town of Fraser’s sales tax is five percent. Sales tax is collected on all sales, leases, and rentals of items within the boundaries of the town. Fraser’s sales tax was last reported in August. The year-to-date sales tax collection for Fraser, as of August was $1,476,866 for 2016, a 21.2 percent change over 2015 when $1,163,209 was collected.


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