June’s “festival month” came through once more for North Platte and Lincoln County, based on the state’s latest sales- and lodging-tax figures.
A net $1.61 million take for the city’s combined 2% sales tax not only advanced June’s monthly record for the seventh straight year but also broke December’s record of $1.53 million for any month in online records since 2006.
Meanwhile, Lincoln County’s 4% hotel-motel tax cracked the $200,000 monthly plateau for the first time in June. Net collections totaled $210,535, beating the county’s previous record for any month of $199,268 in June 2024.
The lodging tax officially netted $227,082 in June 2023, but nearly $55,000 was May income reported late due to difficulties at the Nebraska Department of Revenue.
Except for the COVID-19 year of 2020 — when all three of North Platte’s statewide June events were postponed or canceled — June hotel-motel taxes have brought in more than $100,000 for Lincoln County tourism promotion every year since 2012 and more than $150,000 annually since 2021.
North Platte’s June sales taxes usually top December’s Christmas-season figures thanks to the trifecta of the Miss Nebraska and Miss Rodeo Nebraska competitions and Nebraskaland Days. Lodging-tax totals for June benefit from both the festivals and the start of the summer driving season.
June proceeds for the city’s permanent 1.5% sales tax last declined in 2019 compared with the same month a year before. But they leapt from $735,824 that year to $829,910 in June 2020 — despite the pandemic — and launched a rally that has yet to abate.
Proceeds from the permanent tax have kept rising each June even with the 2023 advent of a voter-approved, temporary 0.5% sales tax to fund city recreation improvements. They reached $1.21 million this June, 45.8% above 2020.
Total combined 2025-26 sales-tax income stands at just over $15.1 million with only July’s figures still unreported. That’s within range of North Platte’s full fiscal-year record of just over $16.2 million in 2023-24.