It would be an understatement to say that the economy in the region has been extremely volatile since the COVID outbreak in early 2020. The unexpected crash of local businesses in 2020 was followed by the completely predicted boom in both housing and tourism as urban residents tried to get into nature. The COVID boom was followed by several years of above-average tourism, real estate, and home building.
However, with the post-COVID boom came inflation across the nation, and in November 2021, the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States started to aggressively raise interest rates from historic lows in an effort to battle the growth of prices from eggs to homes and everything in-between.
The question was how that would impact the local economy in the Wet Mountain Valley region. One of the ways that question can be answered is by looking at the changes in sales tax collected in the towns of Westcliffe and Silver Cliff. Because there are no towns in Western Fremont County, it is not possible to figure out how that region’s businesses have fared as the data is lumped in with all of Fremont County.
In short, businesses in the towns have remained steady after the decline in sales in 2023 compared to 2022, and while the big growth spurt has ended, it is also clear that business is still brisk.
The town of Westcliffe is on track to exceed business in the town limits over last year, as it is already even with the 2023 total as of August of this year (there is a two-month delay in sales tax reporting) at $844,290. To put that in comparison, the total for 2023 was $855,769. The question is how strong the fourth quarter of 2024 will be. The record collection was in 2021 when $1.30 million was collected.
Silver Cliff, by comparison, has never seen the flatline of Westcliffe sales tax numbers and has steadily grown since 2020. In 2021, Silver Cliff businesses paid $309,562 in taxes compared to $468,311 in 2023. For this year, Silver Cliff is already on track to exceed last year and, as of August, has collected $295,609.
– Jordan Hedberg
(This article was originally published in October 2024. Subscribe to the print edition of the Tribune so you never miss out on timely news that impacts you!)