In the third year of being collected, the 2013 Cook County 1 percent local option sales tax, sometimes referred to as the recreation and infrastructure tax or simply the “1 percent tax,” is up 9.5 percent over 2012.
This marks the second year the sales tax has jumped over 9 percent from the previous year.
In 2013 local businesses collected $1,284,975.84 through November, while $1,234,919.33 was collected in 2012.
The money from this tax has been used to build the Cook County Community YMCA, to build an addition onto the Grand Marais Public Library as well as to make improvements to Birch Grove Community Center (playground, tennis court and skating rink, etc.), to make improvements at Superior National at Lutsen golf course and countywide Broadband. One percent sales tax funding has also funded the research regarding the feasibility of installing a biomass district heating plant in Grand Marais.
The tax is expected to generate $20 million over 20 years.
Cook County lodging tax receipts are also up across the board from November 2012 through November 2013, the last time the data was collected.
Lodging tax collections for Lutsen, Tofte, and Schroeder (LTTA) are up 6.4 percent while Grand Marais is up 4.2 percent and the Gunflint Trail Association is up 5.4 percent for the same period.
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