Park City Manager Adam Lenhard said March was a bad month when it comes to city sales taxes — revenue was down $1.4 million, or about 20%, compared to 2025. The figure excludes transient room taxes from hotel stays and short-term rentals.
“March is exactly when the impacts of that weak winter finally showed up in the numbers,” he said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” June 3.
According to a staff report, earlier winter sales taxes showed more resilience than expected given the season’s low snowpack. But by March, a lack of snow and ski resort visitors led to a decrease in spending in town.
Sales tax from January to March was also down 9% compared to last year.
March is one of the city’s most important winter revenue months and is crucial when planning for next fiscal year’s budget, which starts in July.
Though March revenue was 19% below the 2025 budget, Lenhard said the city will still be able to balance the financial plan.
“We have healthy reserves, and this is the exact reason why we have those reserves to level out the occasional down year,” he said. “At this point, we are looking at last winter as an anomaly, and hopefully this winter is great.”
Lenhard said the city is more concerned about the impact on local businesses and employees.
“That was a dramatic decrease in their revenues, and so we're very concerned about the health of our local businesses and their ability to weather these downturns,” he said.
Sales tax revenue goes into Park City’s general fund, which pays for employees and fundamental services including police, street maintenance, open space management and the library.
