Sales and sales tax collections in Flandreau rebounded last year after sluggish activity in the previous two years.
Total sales in the city were $32.25 million for the year ending in June of 2017, compared to $28.44 million for that same time a year earlier, reports show. In fiscal year 2015, sales were $29. 66 million, compared with stronger sales of $31.49 million for that period in 2014.
Retail sales, which makes up nearly half of all sales in the city, bounced back to $14.77 million in 2017, compared with $12.76 million in 2016. Retail sales had been $14.42 million in 2015, but in that time period, Alco went out of business. Tractor Supply Co. opened in the former Alco location one year ago, contributing to stronger retail sales in town.
Randy Dezeeuw of Elkton was shopping at Tractor Supply last week and said if he is coming through Flandreau, he typically stops at the store. “I was glad Tractor Supply came here,” he said.
Businessman Scott Ramsdell said other businesses also are busy, including Dollar General, which sees a lot of traffic through its doors.
The city gets roughly 2 percent of the sales tax collected in Flandreau, after paying a fee to the state. For the year ending last June, that means about $650,000, compared with about $569,000 a year earlier, reports show.
The state pays the city the 2 percent, minus a fee, twice a month.
Other categories with a large portion of sales last year were the transportation, communications, electrical, gas and sewer division with $5.73 million in sales and the services sector with $5.53 million. Both categories had stronger sales than a year earlier.
