The Haines Borough generated $3.6 million in sales tax revenue for fiscal year 2019, a period spanning July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019.

The total is up 11 percent from last fiscal year, and $400,000 higher than borough predictions, according to data released last week.

“There were more sales than we anticipated,” said borough chief financial officer Jila Stuart.

This fiscal year is set apart by three changes (though, Stuart notes, they don’t account for the largest monetary shifts): the July 2018 opening of Haines’ lone retail marijuana store, online sales tax collection, and the assembly’s November 2018 decision to stop collecting sales tax from commercial and residential long-term renters.

Since the beginning of 2019, Amazon has been collecting local sales tax following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that online retailers have a presence like local retailers. The federal law, adopted by the Haines Borough in June, accounted for $36,007 revenue in the first six months of the year. Sales tax is collected from online vendors including Amazon, Netflix, Overstock.com, and SlingTV.

Borough sales tax revenues have risen steadily since 2015. In the 2018 year-end sales tax report, which accounts for half of the 2019 fiscal year, retail business contributed the most money at $886,626. Other high-grossing industries included tourism, and petroleum and auto.

Retail, including groceries, liquor and clothing, increased by nearly 4 percent—or about $63,000—in 2018. In the first six months of the year, retail brought in an additional $420,593.

Howsers IGA general manager Kevin Shove corroborated that sales have been up this year, which he attributes to added special sales the grocery store has held to bring in more customers.

Doug Olerud, owner of Olerud’s Market Center and Alaska Sport Shop, attributed increased sales to three industries: Raw TV filming in the Chilkat Valley the past two summers, Constantine Metal Resource’s exploration north of Haines, and the highway project construction bringing workers to town. “Those are the three things I can point to pretty quickly that have helped with our sales,” Olerud said.

The tourism industry —the next largest revenue sector — increased nearly 14 percent from 2017, bringing in almost $624,000 in tax. This fiscal year, tourism tax revenue totaled $176,273 from January through June.

Alaska Mountain Guides owner Sean Gaffney said his business grew, and that increases in other categories such as retail, petroleum and auto, eating and drinking, short term lodging, and gift shops and art, are influenced by the industry. “It ripples out,” Gaffney said. “It touches every part of our economy.”

Commercial and residential long-term rentals was the only sector that saw a decrease in revenue down $2,000 compared to 2018. In November 2018, the borough adopted an ordinance exempting long-term residential renters from paying sales tax.

Sales tax revenue, generated from a 5.5 percent levy on goods and services sold in the Haines Borough, is allocated in differing percentages to various borough funds, including the townsite service area, medical service area, areawide general fund, economic development and tourism, and capital improvement projects.