Sales Tax Revenue Reveals Good News and Bad for North Shoppes

Good and bad news for St. Joseph`s Shoppes at North Village. Fourth quarter sales tax receipts are in and while the numbers don`t lie, some retailers say they`re not as good as they seem. Sale signs sing about the summertime slump. "We were kind of down last month I think because of the weather and the holiday," Abby Schulenberg, Dress Barn assistant manager, say. Schulenberg hopes decreasing prices will increase business. "Now they know that we have all our summer sales going on right now," Schulenberg says. But shopper Peggy Pugh doesn`t buy the bargains. "As you start getting more into the summer, you`re more vacation-minded and things like that instead of, you know, let`s go shop for some clothes or anything," Pugh says. Despite sagging summer sales, overall, the Shoppes at North Village mean big business for the city of St. Joseph and Buchanan County -- and that`s according to the numbers. "[The Shoppes] generated in total about $3.2 million in sales taxes, but half of those go to the city and county," Carolyn Harrison, St. Joseph financial services director, says. The shoppes development is funded with TIF money. To pay back the tax increment financing, one-half of all of the shoppes` sales tax revenue pays back debt bonds. The city still comes out ahead with $1.5 million. "You`re not losing anything because if you don`t have that new development, you wouldn`t have that gain anyhow," Brad Lau, St. Joseph Area Chamber of Commerce vice president of business relations and development, says. A closer look at the numbers shows it may be a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. The overall tax base last year was $21.5 million. The base this year minus the shoppes is $20.7 million. Add back the shoppes money after TIF debts, it`s almost the exact difference -- roughly 1.5 million. Harrison says the numbers show that the shoppes are sucking sales away from established businesses. "You just have to expect that. After two years, people go back to their normal routines," Harrison says. Still, the city says the north shoppes are helping to feed the community. The city and county have also received a little more than $200,000 generated from the north shoppes` property tax.