Town ends 2023 with record surplus

Largest ever, that is the Town of La Conner $971,884 2023 budget surplus.

Councilmembers opened their January packets to find that the $43,947 in sales tax revenue pushed the year’s total to $630,453, 3.5% and $21,272 above budgeted projections. It is the third straight year above $630,000, though $47,470 below the almost $678,000 collected in 2022.

The Special Use Fire Tax was likewise flush, with the $4,345 pushing the year’s total to $61,350, 22.7% above the $50,000 budgeted.

And while the hotel/motel tax on lodging finished 2023 47.2% above budget projections, at $195,784 and boosted by $13,909 in receipts, that number is below December 2022’s totals.

The $9,776 in REET (Real Estate Excise Tax) revenue brings the year’s total to $93,315, 29.7% above projections. The Town’s property tax revenue did not meet its budget, taking in $331,017, $21,954 below the projected $352,971.

The budget surplus this year is again due to the profits in the water, storm drainage, sewer and compost programs, which generated $3.98 million, 62.7% of total revenues. These programs had expenditures of $3.11 million, generating a surplus of $866,213.

On the cost side, the programs spent $1.22 million less than their allocations estimates. Total budget expenditures were $2.02 million below what the council approved for the year. That is a different outcome than if all programs allocations had been completely spent. The budget would then have been $1.05 million in deficit.

These totals are based on October tax collections from town businesses and online purchases delivered to La Conner addresses and reported to town council by the state Department of Revenue.

La Conner has a calendar fiscal year.