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.