AURORA | City sales tax revenue dropped off in February, leading collections to fall behind where they were this time last year.
The city collected $22.3 million in sales taxes in February, which is a decrease of roughly $1.6 million or 6.6% compared to February 2025, according to city records. Collections year-to-date are 2.9% lower than at the same time period last year.
Richard Goggins, an analyst in Aurora’s budget office, said the drop largely stems from a decrease in collections from “variable” sales taxpayers. Variable sales tax accounts report sales tax collections periodically. Consistent accounts are regularly reporting retailers, such as big-box stores and restaurants. Variable sales tax collections have declined monthly for four consecutive months, with $3.3 million less than the same period a year ago.
“This is kind of an inverse of what we were seeing last year where our variable sales taxpayers and collections were quite high and they were driving a lot of that growth,” Goggins said at an April 23 city council finance committee meeting. “We’re kind of seeing all those variable collections dry out a bit.”
Sales tax revenue is the city’s largest single source of operating funds.
Breaking down collections by sector, food and beverage and clothing businesses are growing, up 6.4% and 10.2% year-to-date, respectively. However, electronic and industrial sales are down significantly this year compared to last year — 32% and 82%, respectively.
Last year, the city collected a total of almost $307 million in sales tax revenue, a 4.7% increase over 2024. Sales tax revenue has consistently grown year over year since 2023.
In an effort to boost sales tax revenue, the city’s Retail Strategy Steering Committee is working on a plan to implement new resources to support local businesses, such as speeding up licensing processes and running marketing campaigns.
The plan is being drafted with a goal of rolling out this summer. Its focus areas include efficient development and permitting processes, providing a clean and safe environment, expanding marketing efforts and developing business incentives.
Thank you for covering the city’s sales tax situation– a topic that does not get nearly the attention it deserves. Sales tax fuels pretty much everything the city does and some officials don’t want to even acknowledge the opportunity for serious improvement with retail, dining and entertainment in Aurora.
The Retail Strategy Council approved in January needs to be re-chartered and led by an elected official who does not simply ignore objective data as CM Bergan does every time the data points to opportunities for serious improvement.
A solid strategy has goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. When you realize that the city’s retail/dining economy is among the worst in Colorado and that at least $45 million per year in additional sales tax would be collected if our economy merely climbed up to average, and then you look at the approved Retail Strategy, you realize that climbing to average isn’t a goal at all. In fact, the Strategy has absolutely ZERO financial goals whatsoever. Talk about setting a low bar!
The new Retail Strategy has vague, unmeasurable goals, zero expectations to improve tax revenue and no synergy with entertainment. A sincere, viable strategy would address the root causes and would be built on the following four key data points:
(1) How far below the regional average is Aurora’s retail activity per resident today, compared to the 2016 benchmark when it lagged the average of Colorado cities by 14% and Denver by 59%?
(2) What would the city’s financial gain look like if retail activity moved up to the average of Colorado cities? If Aurora is still down 14%, rising to average would come with a $45 million/year bump in sales tax revenue. Aiming for this within a reasonable, specific timeframe shouldn’t a prime goal? Why not exactly?
(3) What would Aurora’s slice of the REGIONAL performing arts market look like if the city had a market share commensurate in size with Aurora’s share of the metro Denver population? In other words, roughly 13%. Don’t try to say Aurora is not worthy of nice things.
(4) How much tax is collected in Aurora by the Denver Scientific and Cultural Facilities District and what percentage is returned as grants to entities in Aurora? The three-tier distribution of SCFD taxes may have made sense in 1988. But considering the blight that surrounds the Fox Theater — a prestigious SCFD Tier 2 grantee — its abundantly clear Aurora has become victim to something much akin to a Ponzi scheme (In 2019, less than 10% of our tax was returned as grants in Aurora).