A recent slowdown in sales tax revenue for the city of Grand Junction could be due to the upcoming election.

According to Jodie Romero, Financial Operations Director for Grand Junction, the recent decrease is less than one percent when compared to this same time last year.

Romero said we're still slowly crawling out of the recession of 2008, but despite the slow crawl, officials with the city feel the economy is still fairly strong.

In fact, overall, sales tax revenue in Grand Junction is up 3.8% from last year.

"What we see on a national basis, is during an election period, particularly a presidential election, is that the consumer spending can constrict a little bit. So we're hoping that this [month's] decrease over [the] previous year is an anomaly and won't repeat, but we'll watch it very closely," said Romero.

Romero hopes that between back to school shopping and special events taking place in September, that the city will see a bump in sales tax revenue when the month-end report is tallied.

For more on this story, and other news making headlines across the Grand Valley, be sure to check out this week's edition of the Business Times.