Local Brewing Company Continues to Boom
YAKIMA - Yakima County gets millions of dollars each year from sales tax. But it could always use more, especially during hard financial times. One local brewery's massive expansion may help both the county's bottom line as well as yours and mine.
"Since day one, our demand has gone up and up," said Yakima Brewing Company President Jeff Winn. "Good or bad, it keeps going up faster and faster."
While many businesses are battling just to make ends meet, the Yakima Brewing Company's challenge is keeping up. The two-year-old shop just expanded beer production by 60%. But even that wasn't enough.
"We're going to expand quite a bit more," Winn said. "We're going to do anywhere from five to eight times our current size."
And Winn said that increase in size will translate to an increase in sales, and that also means a rise in sales tax revenue. Last year, the company sold roughly $112,000 worth of product. KIMA and the Yakima County Treasurer crunched the numbers and found that translates to approximately $2,000 in local sales tax. We know that is a minor amount now, but with an up to 800% expansion, the company is set to make a nice drop in the sales tax bucket in the coming years.
"Booming businesses are great for our valley," said Yakima County Treasurer Ilene Thomson. "We rely heavily on sales tax as do all local governments in order to provide the services we need to provide."
And those services include everything from maintenance at county buildings to road repairs, and that benefits everyone.
"You watch that business grow, and that number also grows as for the benefit of our local economy," Thomson said.
The expansions include a taproom, brew pub and new equipment.
"Since day one, our demand has gone up and up," said Yakima Brewing Company President Jeff Winn. "Good or bad, it keeps going up faster and faster."
While many businesses are battling just to make ends meet, the Yakima Brewing Company's challenge is keeping up. The two-year-old shop just expanded beer production by 60%. But even that wasn't enough.
"We're going to expand quite a bit more," Winn said. "We're going to do anywhere from five to eight times our current size."
And Winn said that increase in size will translate to an increase in sales, and that also means a rise in sales tax revenue. Last year, the company sold roughly $112,000 worth of product. KIMA and the Yakima County Treasurer crunched the numbers and found that translates to approximately $2,000 in local sales tax. We know that is a minor amount now, but with an up to 800% expansion, the company is set to make a nice drop in the sales tax bucket in the coming years.
"Booming businesses are great for our valley," said Yakima County Treasurer Ilene Thomson. "We rely heavily on sales tax as do all local governments in order to provide the services we need to provide."
And those services include everything from maintenance at county buildings to road repairs, and that benefits everyone.
"You watch that business grow, and that number also grows as for the benefit of our local economy," Thomson said.
The expansions include a taproom, brew pub and new equipment.
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