BOULDER - The city of Boulder's sales- and use-tax collections increased 7.3 percent in May, compared with the same month a year ago, according to the city finance department's latest report.

Boulder collected $7,079,320 in May, compared with the $6,595,647 collected in May 2011, according to the report. The collection in May represents sales made in April.

Retail sales-tax receipts were down 5.1 percent for the month, compared with the same month last year, according to the report. But apparel sales-tax receipts were up 19.2 percent, in large part because of the added sales-tax growth from the Nordstrom Rack clothing store, which posted its first sales-tax revenues in May 2011.

For the year to date, construction use tax collection through the end of May was up by 104.4 percent compared with the same period in 2011. If Boulder Junction, a development planned on the northwest corner of 30th Street and Pearl Parkway, were excluded, construction use tax would be up by 41.7 percent. Boulder Junction is expected to include a hotel, stores, an underground bus station and a parking garage.

A new apartment project that started in the tax-collection period also pushed up construction use-tax collection, said Eric Nickell, budget director for the city of Boulder.

Motor vehicle use taxes were up 8.7 percent for the year to date. Regardless of where the vehicle is purchased, use-tax revenue is generated for the city if the owners live in the city,  according to the report.

The Boulder economy appears to have stabilized somewhat and is expanding at a moderate pace, according to the report.