Revenue from sales tax continues to soar in Langley, surpassing monthly totals from years past.

Monica Felici, the city’s finance director, led a presentation during a city council meeting Monday night.

Apart from the month of March, every month in 2021 broke records for the total of sales tax collected, she explained. October brought in the largest amount, at $51,667.

Most recently, $51,201 was collected in November. In November 2020, that amount was $43,812 and in 2019 it was $47,378.

In most cases, there was at least a 25% increase year over year.

Councilmember Dominique Emerson credited recent marketing from the Langley Chamber of Commerce as helping to bring more tourists to the Village by the Sea.

The council was optimistic about receiving another hefty increase in sales tax come the end of December, which could help balance the city’s budget. Mayor Scott Chaplin, however, cautioned that the new COVID variant might affect the local economy in unexpected ways.