Million dollar milestone

Economic activity in the Central City has reached a milestone. Sales tax collections for the year 2023 exceeded $1 million for the first time ever.

According to data released Tuesday, the City of Carrington collected $1,080,534.43 last year. That's a 14 percent increase over last year, or more than $100,000. See the chart below for the 5-year trend.

"City sales tax collection reached a record high for 2023," said auditor Jennifer Gast. "This is fantastic not only for the three quarters of 1% going toward supporting Economic Development programs, but also for the quarter percent collected for city infrastructure needs. This strong collection alleviates the need to levy additional property tax. The infrastructure funds have been used in the past to purchase city vehicles, equipment, and pavement patching."

The city collects 2 percent sales tax on all qualifying purchases. Half of the sales tax dollars, or 1 percent, are placed into fund 218 to offset specials and debt service from the 2014 street project and water main replacement, a total of $540,267.24 in 2023.

Carrington Chamber and Economic Development Corporation (CCEDC) received three-quarters of 1 percent, or $399,279.72, last year.

Nearly half of those funds were disbursed for community projects, as locals utilized nine different incentive programs available through the CCEDC, according to Executive Director Laurie Dietz.

The most popular program in 2024 was the Flex-PACE interest buydown, where CCEDC dispersed $56,000 to reduce interest rates for 18 businesses, both new businesses and existing ones that relocated, expanded or built new facilities.

Property owners received more than $50,000 from CCEDC in 2023 to improve real property in the city. The organization disbursed $26,000 for building improvements, $24,500 in new building incentives and $1,375 for demolition – a total of $51,875.

Central Dakota Sportsmen's Club received $10,000 in community connection funds to make improvements to the shooting range southwest of Carrington. CCEDC also handed out $7,500 in childcare provider grants, $5,300 for career builder and scholarship programs and $2,500 in job credits in 2023.

"The incentive programs have been recently updated to better assist our businesses and community," said Dietz. If anyone has questions or is interested in applying for any of the programs, feel free to contact us anytime. Our phone number is 701-652-2524 or stop by the office at 871 Main Street."

Information about all the financial assistance programs available from the CCEDC can be found on their website: https://carringtonccedc.com/development/

The city also set another record for sales tax collection. In 2023, Carrington received $91,496 in sales tax revenue from online and remote sellers last year.

With a 2 percent sales tax rate, that means Carrington residents and businesses purchased more than $4.5 million in taxable goods from remote and online sellers in 2023.

Last year marked the fifth full year that remote and online sellers were required to collect state and local sales tax. Very small businesses are not required to collect the tax, so it's likely there are more purchases made with online sellers that are not captured by this data.

Sales tax collection by remote sellers is required only if their taxable sales into the state exceed $100,000 in the current or previous calendar year.