With all the holiday shopping December usually marks our biggest revenue month.

Despite the boost, this years December sales tax collection for the city of Grand Junction dropped by over 4%.

Mesa County's sales tax collections fared no better, down nearly 4.5% over last year.

It's not the best news for local business owners or the administrators budgeting for the city and county.

But Grand Junction's financial operations director, Jodi Romero, says it's too early to tell if budget adjustments will be needed.

"From a budget impact we do have some flexibility to within our budget absorb this particular drop. We're watching it closely but we don't consider it a permanent setback, or a permanent structural change to our revenue stream, more on a temporary basis. and as the months go by we'll continue to watch it," said Romero.

Romero said she thinks the decline in revenue stems from several factors, including the state of the economy, legislation activity, and online shopping.

Since many shoppers purchased their gifts online for the holidays, lots of those sales were not subjected to sales tax.

Now both the city and county are starting 2013 behind, and Romero says if the decline continues, some budget adjustments will have to be made.