Restaurant sales in the millions!

They’ve run some numbers at Seneca City Hall that show the voracious appetites of the city’s diners translate into big restaurant sales and tax revenues for city government. Joel Seavey, the city’s financial director, recently ran some figures for the benefit of Riley Johnson, the city’s events coordinator. Seavey examined figures derived through the city’s hospitality and accommodation tax for the most recent four-year period. The “HAT” revenue increase for the city amounted to $82 thousand. Seavey took the $82 thousand figure and by doing some mathematics came up with an estimate of $4 million in sales during the period by the city’s approximate 50 restaurants. His personal conclusion: “No doubt about it. There are more sales, more restaurants making more money. There are more restaurants. That’s part of it. The restaurants that are here are making more money,” he said. And it leads Johnson, the events coordinator, to conclude that his city’s push to stage entertainment and other attractions boosts restaurant business.