North Platte's sales tax sets records for July, full fiscal year

Sept 17, 2026 | North Platte Telegraph

A record-setting July pushed North Platte's 2025-26 local sales tax collections to all-time levels in the Nebraska Department of Revenue's last monthly report for the fiscal year.

The combined 2% tax netted $1.426 million for the city in July, less than $2,000 over the $1.424 million record set three years ago.

Final net sales tax income will be just over $16.53 million when the fiscal year ends Sept. 30, beating the $16.2 million North Platte received in 2023-24.

The Revenue Department processes all state and local sales taxes in the city, returning the latter about six weeks after each month ends after deducting a 3% administrative fee.

Net sales taxes slipped 1.3% to just barely under $16 million for 2024-25 but rebounded for a 3.3% increase this fiscal year.

Voters in 2022 added a temporary half-cent sales tax to the city's permanent 1.5% tax when they endorsed $52.5 million in upgrades to the North Platte Recreation Complex and Cody Pool and replacement and relocation of the city's skate park.

July's collections lifted the half-cent tax's total proceeds to nearly $13.47 million, 25.7% of the amount needed to repay bonds for the improvements. The temporary tax will end once those bonds are fully paid off.

Lincoln County's 4% lodging tax posted its third straight six-figure month with net July income of $174,751, just $612 shy of the month's 2022 record.