LONGMONT - The city of Longmont's sales- and use-tax collections increased 7.9 percent in January, compared with the same period a year ago, according to the city finance department's report released Tuesday.

Longmont collected $5,471,457 in January, compared with $5,318,866 in January 2011. The collection in January represents sales made in December.

The sales-tax component of collections increased by 2.6 percent from the same month the year before, and the use-tax component increased by 27.5 percent.

Total sales- and use-tax collections for 2012 increased 4.5 percent compared with 2011, according to the report.

Automotive and food categories gained for the year, compared to 2011. Automotive sales-tax revenue was up 7.8 percent; food sales tax was up 7.9 percent. General sales tax was down 1.9 percent, and utilities sales-tax revenue decreased 0.8 percent for the year, compared to 2011.

Lumber, manufacturing and vehicle categories all showed increases in use-tax revenues for the year. Use-tax revenue was up 79.1 percent for lumber, 29.7 percent for manufacturing and 12.4 percent for vehicles, compared to 2011.

In total, sales- and use-tax revenue collected in January, along with previous tax revenue collected in 2012, was $2,197,047 more than the 2012 Longmont city budget, according to the finance department's latest tax report.

City lodging-tax revenue increased 26.7 percent month over month, with $16,454 in lodging-tax revenue collected from hotels in January for the month of December, compared with $12,982 collected in January 2011. City lodging tax revenue increased 10.2 percent for the year, with $283,947 collected in 2012 compared with $257,566 collected in 2011.