Sales-tax revenues rose at the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District in November, the first month-over-month increase in 2009.
The SCFD collected $3.16 million in sales and use taxes in November, up from $3.09 million in November 2008, the district said Thursday.
The 2.3 percent increase, collected on a one-tenth of 1 percent sales and use tax in the seven-county Denver metropolitan area, came near the end of a bleak year for the organization.
Revenues were down more than 12 percent for the year through November. The district projects tax collections of about $37.3 million in 2009, down from $41.9 million in 2008.
The SCFD distributes the revenue to more than 300 cultural nonprofit groups in the metro area ranging from the Denver Performing Arts Center and Denver Zoo to smaller, community- based organizations.
November’s collections rose due to particularly low numbers from a year earlier, said SCFD executive director Peg Long.
“The fourth quarter of 2008 was terrible,” she said. “We were fairly certain we were going to make up some of that loss this quarter.”
SCFD funding accounts for 15 percent to 20 percent of the budgets of the groups it supports, Long said. Those groups also have suffered from falling revenue from other sources, including individual and corporate donations and ticket sales.
The state of Colorado saw sales-tax revenues decline 9.1 percent in November.
The SCFD’s numbers show stronger retail sales performance for the metro area. But the numbers aren’t directly comparable with the state’s because they include taxes on different items, Long said.
Greg Griffin: 303-954-1241 or ggriffin@denverpost.com
