Sales tax revenue in Grand Forks over the past 12 months was up 1.4 percent from the year before, the finance department at City Hall reported Tuesday.
That's an extra $223,000 going into city coffers.
Still, the October consumer price index for Midwestern states, the latest numbers, showed inflation had gone up 1.5 percent from the previous October.
The monthly report from the state came in recently though it does not include the results of Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, according to city budget officer Maureen Storstad.
That'll be next month.
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National reports have indicated modest gains on Black Friday.
Storstad said she's seen those reports and thinks they will probably prove true in Grand Forks, though she doesn't have any more insight than anyone else. Sales tax revenues are just hard to predict, she said.
Despite the increase, she said it's still a bit lower than city staff originally projected and will likely stay that way when the city closes the books with the January sales tax revenues. Staff had seen this coming and had cut 2011 projections by 2 percent to compensate, she said.
Reach Tran at (701) 780-1248; (800) 477-6572, ext. 248; or send e-mail to ttran@gfherald.com .
