City sales tax up

City sales tax up, lodgers tax down

Nov 10, 2001

City of Cortez sales-tax revenues were up by 7.54 percent for the year to date as of Oct. 1, 2001, as compared to last year at this time.

The city has collected a total of $4,448,188 in sales tax since January.

For the month of September, sales tax was up by 9.28 percent from September 2000. Lodgers tax, however, was down by 12.12 percent from last September, and down 4.15 percent for the year.

October visitation to Mesa Verde National Park was down by 13.6 percent from 1999, but up by 0.2 percent compared to 2000. A total of 38,928 visits were made to Mesa Verde this October, compared to 38,861 last year.

Due to the closure of the park from the 2000 fires, park officials said comparing visitation to 1999 is more accurate than 2000.

"One, I think we’re still feeling the effects of the fire, and two, 1999 turned out to be a year higher than the 20-year average anyway," said park spokesman Will Morris.

For the year through October, park visitation is up by 14.7 percent from 2000 and down by 18.3 percent from 1999. In 2000, 452,926 visits were made to the park through October, and this year 519,468 visits were made.

"October visitation was stronger this year than in 2000, but it still is down from what we’d all like to see," said park Superintendent Larry Wiese.