Restaurants, bars and retail stores posted lower sales in December 2012 than the same month a year prior, contributing to the worst decline in city consumption tax revenue collections last year, according to the Aspen finance department.

The city’s consumption report released on Tuesday shows that December retail sales tax revenue was down 7 percent compared to the same month in 2011. The only other months of 2012 that posted declines from the previous year were September with 2 percent and April at 1 percent.

Restaurants, utilities and general retail took the biggest hit in December when compared to 2011, posting decreases of 22, 21 and 15 percent, respectively. December generally accounts for between 14 and 16 percent of the entire year’s sales and collections.

The industries posting the largest gains were automobile and miscellaneous sales, which saw 62 and 19 percent increases over 2011, respectively.

Despite December’s declines, actual 2012 sales tax collections still finished 5 percent above 2011 at $11.02 million, and were about $11,000 higher than the boom year of 2007, just before the recession took hold. In 2008, the city saw its highest sales tax collections in a six-year period with $11.51 million.

December lodging tax collections were down 4 percent from the same period in 2011. However, 2012 finished with a total lodging tax increase of 11 percent.

Aspen’s portion of Pitkin County’s sales tax for November 2012 was down 3 percent from 2011. Collections for the year are up 5 percent.

Housing real estate transfer tax (RETT) collections for January were down 39 percent from the same month last year at $323,460. Wheeler real estate transfer tax collections came in at $177,058 and were down 37 percent from January 2012.

December year-to-date retail sales
Category                             YTD retail sales    % change prior year   
Accommodations                 $138,335,077       8%                   
Restaurants and bars           $94,111,697         2%                   
Sports equipment/clothing   $37,838,056         8%                   
Clothing                             $48,165,881         5%                   
Food and drug                    $48,642,038         2%               
Liquor                                $8,582,513           4%                   
General retail                      $323,460             8%                   
Construction                       $38,343,023        11%           
Luxury goods                     $25,120,109         (3%)               
Utilities                              $38,781,118         2%               
Automobile                        $13,061,869         (2%)               
Miscellaneous                     $16,149,301         6%               
Total                                 $527,845,050        5%               

December monthly retail sales
Category                            Monthly retail sales    % change prior year           
Accommodations                $21,908,476               (4%)                       
Restaurants and bars          $8,650,710                (22%)                       
Sports equipment/clothing   $7,301,905                (5%)                       
Clothing                             $7,200,558                (7%)                       
Food and drug                    $6,585,837                (9%)                   
Liquor                               $1,201,227                 (5%)                   
General retail                     $3,072,641                 (15%)                   
Construction                      $5,099,432                 1%                       
Luxury Goods                    $4,435,476                 (5%)                       
Utilities                             $3,652,456                 (21%)                       
Automobile                       $1,351,660                  62%                       
Miscellaneous                    $2,839,537                 19%                       
Total                                 $73,299,916               (7%)