You’ve no doubt heard that Boulder is facing a budget crunch due to stagnating sales tax collections. Across the board, city staffers are scrambling to cut spending and adjust to lower than expected revenues.

Many are quick to blame Amazon and other online retailers but that doesn’t explain why towns like Longmont and Louisville are seeing double digit growth in sales taxes. Yes the internet is having an impact here but there is more to the story

Think about it. Not that long ago, if you lived in the “L towns” and wanted to go to a great restaurant or a brewpub, you had to come to Boulder. If you wanted to shop at Whole Foods or hear live music, you had to come to Boulder.

No more. As the cost of doing business here has skyrocketed and neighboring towns have grown, the retail and restaurant scenes in places like Longmont and Louisville have exploded. As a result, their residents now visit Boulder less often than they used to.

In a few weeks, our city council will have a study session to discuss the sales tax issue along with potential fixes for the problem. In that discussion, I hope they keep a few things in mind.

First is the growing importance of tourism to Boulder’s economy. As visits from county residents have fallen, the number of out-of-state visitors has risen and they are now a major revenue generator. Last year they spent an estimated $420 million in Boulder which generated $15 million in taxes for the City. That is enough to pay every employee in the fire department or fund the entire Library system with $6 million left over.

In downtown Boulder, over half of our retail and restaurant spending now comes from visitors. Without them, many of the shops and restaurants we love (and take for granted) would not exist.

And as the entire state learned in the 1990s, tourism does not just happen by itself. When the state slashed travel marketing back then, visitor numbers dropped 30 percent and Colorado’s economy lost over $2 billion a year. Hundreds of businesses across the state had to close. The lesson from that debacle is that investing in promotion is a necessity for maintaining a healthy visitor market.

So city council should resist any temptation to divert dollars from the Convention and Visitors Bureau back to the general fund. CVB funding is not an expense but an important investment that brings in a healthy return for our community.

Secondly, I hope council members consider the potential downside of a dramatic increase in commercial linkage fees. As it is, Boulder is the most expensive city in the region to run a small business. Higher linkage fees (which are already among the nation’s highest) will be passed through by developers to tenants in the form of higher rent. In the long run, this will force more retailers out of business or out of Boulder. Of course if businesses leave, they take their customers and their sales tax dollars with them.

If council insists on raising linkage fees, they should at least consider targeted exemptions for new buildings that will house shops or restaurants. If they do not, those buildings likely will not be built or they will be occupied by banks or office users which can pay higher rent but generate no sales tax.

Boulder still has a robust retail sector but it is vulnerable to shifts in market trends and public policies. Before city council makes any decisions that could negatively impact local businesses, they should do careful analysis of those impacts. Over the long term, city budgets could feel the pain as much as the businesses do.

Sean Maher is the CEO of the Downtown Boulder Business Improvement District and the Downtown Boulder Partnership. Views expressed in this column are his own and do not reflect the position of either organization. He can be reached at sean@downtownboulder.org.