May 2, 2011

Consumers Spending More In La Salle CountyBy Jonathan BilykMyWebTimes.com

The busy holiday shopping season, which spans the final three months of the year, can represent a make-it-or-break-it period for many owners and operators of stores and restaurants.

And last year, the final three months of 2010 appeared to be a time when more retail shop owners made it, instead of going broke, in La Salle County’s largest communities.

According to a recent round of sales tax data from the Illinois Department of Revenue, consumers shopping in La Salle County appear to have continued to resume some of the spending habits they exhibited before the economic crash that has characterized the last few years.

In La Salle County’s three largest communities — Ottawa, Streator and Peru — sales tax revenues collected on sales made in October, November and December increased by about 5.6 percent last year compared to the same period in 2009, tax data revealed.

Over all, the three communities collected a combined $2.81 million in municipal sales tax in the final three months of last year. The municipal sales tax represents 1 percent of the dollar value of all sales taxes collected in a particular city.

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