Sales tax dip for the second time since COVID

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - For the second time since the COVID pandemic, Rapid City’s monthly sales tax receipts dipped.

So far this year, Rapid City sales tax receipts total nearly 32 million dollars, an increase of almost 3 percent from the same time in 2022. However, the latest receipts, which are for May of 2023, totaled less than 7 million dollars, which is lower than the same time last year.

Darrell Shoemaker, communications coordinator for the City of Rapid City, says the dip might have been caused by the cool, rainy weather.

“One of the factors we had in May was the weather. Because the weather was pretty poor, kept a lot of people inside, they were probably just continuing to head down the road as far as stopping and getting out and looking at different sites. Weather impacted us locally because it was cool and rainy, and so forth, so that can play a factor,” said Shoemaker.

Shoemaker said usually Rapid City’s sales tax receipts have a growth rate of about 2 percent each month.

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