The City of Luverne's sales tax collection was down three months of the fiscal year prior February's slight boost.

Sales tax collection for the month of February was $45,576 compared to $44,192 in 2004.

However, sales tax in January, December and November was significantly down when compared to those same three months one year ago.

Collection for November of 2004 was $47,958 compared

to $53,600 in '03. In December the city collected $48,670 versus $51,392 in that same month in '03. The month of January also saw a slight drop with $56,285 collected against $57,596 last year.

In total that's a difference and a loss of $9,675.

And Luverne Mayor Joe Rex Sport thinks he knows why.

"The price of gas is hurting us with sales tax figures," he said. "People aren't spending as much on items that would be taxed because of the high gas prices. And, from what I've heard, those prices are going to go up higher than they currently are."

Overall, the city collected $622,439 in sales tax for the 03-04 fiscal year. As of February, the city has collected a total of $245,990.

The month of October did see a big boost versus what Luverne recorded in 2003 of that month. $47,501 was collected in sales tax. That's a gain of almost $10,000 over last October when the city collected $38,608.