The town budgeted $300,000 in revenue from the local option taxes for meals, rooms and alcohol and took in $327,798. That represents a slight increase over last year's number of $324,682.
"Meals, rooms and alcohol continues to exceed expectations," said Manchester Town Manager John O'Keefe. "I'm actually fairly surprised at how well the hospitality industry is doing."
While the hospitality industry may be holding steady, O'Keefe said that retail is "trailing behind."
"Sales (taxes), we were expecting an increase. That's based on what the state estimates," O'Keefe said.
This year the town took in $642,247 in local option sales taxes - a $11,576 decrease from last year's number of $653,823.
While there is a possibility of some new businesses opening in the community over the summer, O'Keefe said he expected that many of them may be clothing stores, which would not contribute to the local option tax numbers.
Under the Streamlined Sales Tax Agreement, which the state entered into in 2007, clothing is tax exempt.
Overall, the local option taxes collected from sales, meals, rooms and alcohol represent about a $7,000 decrease over last year's total numbers - something O'Keefe said in part could be attributed to the economy.
O'Keefe said that Vermont
Despite the struggling economy, O'Keefe said there have been some encouraging signs.
"I'm not overly worried about the local economy because it seems like we're ready for a burst," said O'Keefe. "There's been a flurry of activity. There's a new hotel that's being proposed. Manchester is a place where people continue to voice interest in investing in the community."
Furthermore, O'Keefe said projects such as the roundabout and the construction of the park house at the parks and rec department will benefit the town in the future.
"We've put a lot of money in the infrastructure so that when the recovery comes we're going to be very well situated," O'Keefe said.
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