Despite hearty efforts to rejuvenate Trinidad's economy in recent years, revenue generated for the city via sales and cannabis taxes have continued to slip downward, as evidenced by Finance Director Chery Navarette's updated financial report presentation for the first quarter of 2024, delivered to the city council at a June 24 work session.
"General fund revenues are under-collected by $319,000. We're down 2.14% in comparison from March 31 last year," said Navarette. "Sales taxes are down by $291,000. In reconciling sales tax reports received from the state, I've noticed that some cannabis dispensaries and a couple of hotels aren't reporting on a timely basis," Navarette said.
"Our cannabis sales tax is down by $29,000," said Navarette, "but we did decrease the budget by $507,000 from last year, so we should be on track." Navarette reported that intergovernmental revenue was under-collected by $123,000 but this number was skewed by some $300,000 in severance tax revenue the city won't see until September and a $240,000 Brownfields grant the city hadn't billed against yet.
The municipal landfill was also under collected to the tune of $76,000 but Navarette noted that revenue was expected to increase during the warmer months.
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