Again, as Chris pointed out, adjusting for political for the year, gross revenue was flat for the same period last year. This year, we had gross political revenue of $944,000 for the year compared to $3.6 million for the same period last year. Station operating expense increased 3% for the 12-month period to $90.2 million. Operating income was $11.5 million and station operating income, again, a non-GAAP measure, was $27.4 million. As discussed in previous conference calls, we made a strategic decision in 2023 to give our staff pay increases in recognition of the tremendous work they do. Most of them had not received any compensation increases in the past three to five years. These pay increases and related payroll taxes amounted to an estimated $372,000 or approximately 84% of the increase in the fourth quarter station operating expense and $1.6 million or approximately 60% of the year-to-date increase.
Similar to previous quarters, other smaller but still meaningful increases, in our station operating expenses included increased health insurance, utility expenses, music license fees, maintenance and repairs, programming rights and sales surveys. You need to keep in mind that our year-end results for 2022 were impacted by a onetime expense of $3.8 million related to Ed Christian’s passing, which was recorded during the third quarter of that year. The decrease in corporate expense was offset by an approximately $506,000 increase in corporate G&A expense, of which $361,000 was due to the hiring of specific best-of-class individuals to lead our new revenue initiatives that you have heard Chris and I talked about in previous calls, and Chris talked about a little bit more in this call already.
Capital expenditures for the quarter ended December 31, 2023, were $959,000 compared to $1.3 million for the same period last year. For the 12-month period, capital expenditures were $4.4 million this year compared to $6 million last year. We currently expect to spend between $5 million and $5.5 million for capital expenditures in 2024. As Chris referenced earlier, for the year, we continued to diversify our revenue as we saw gross revenue growth in national, which was up $385,000, Interactive, which was up $1.9 million and nontraditional revenue, which was up $679,000. While local revenue was down for the year, it’s important to note, as Chris did that e-commerce, which mostly gets recorded as local direct revenue increased to $1.4 million for the year.
We believe that there is still significant growth to be achieved in all these areas as well as in our continued digital efforts. We continue to plan on utilizing our financial strength to strategically invest in our operations, both at a market and corporate level as we work to grow specific revenue types, including local, national, interactive, e-commerce and NTR. As discussed in our second quarter earnings call due to the SEC’s renewed focus on the reporting of non-GAAP financial measures and their review of our filings. We have adjusted our quarterly press releases starting with our second quarter earnings press release to include a complete statement of cash flows as opposed to the abbreviated statement we historically have included in our Form 10-Qs. We continue to include the reconciliation of GAAP operating income to station operating income, which is a non-GAAP measure, but now also include other financial data table, which allows the users of our press release and filings to make direct comparisons to data reported in previous press releases and filings.
The company’s balance sheet reflects $40.2 million in cash and short-term investments as of December 31, 2023, and $30.4 million as of March 4, 2024, primarily due to the special dividend that was declared in December of last year and paid early this year. Pacing for the first quarter is soft. For the quarter, we are currently pacing down low to mid-single digits. January started out strong. February and March have been much softer. Although April and May are currently pacing up low to mid-single digits. It still continues to be an unsettled advertising market given the uncertain economy, the Fed’s interest rate policy, the ongoing inflationary environment, in addition to other worldwide issues. We currently expect that our station operating expense will increase by approximately 3.5% to 4.5% for the year as compared to 2023.
In addition to the inflationary environment, this is significantly driven by our investments in our staff, sales training and ongoing interactive development. We anticipate the annual corporate general and administrative expense will be approximately $11.3 million to $11.8 million for 2024. Our tax rate is expected to be 26% to 29% with a deferred tax of 3% to 6% going forward. And now that I want all of you out, I’ll turn you back over to Chris. Thank you.
Christopher Forgy: Thank you, Sam. So Sam, your son Brandon is a Delta pilot, yes?
Samuel Bush: He is a Delta pilot, flying A330s to international locations as well as a KC-135 refueling tanker pilot for the Air Force Reserve.
Christopher Forgy: So when Brandon is barreling down the runway, 200-plus miles an hour, I don’t know what that is in knots, you could probably tell me, what is he typically focused on?
Samuel Bush: I actually called him last night, and he was at the DTW Detroit Airport on his way to Frankfurt, and I ask him that question. And he said, well, we’re going down the runway at about 180 knots, which is roughly 200 miles an hour, and we are focused on getting the plane listed off in the air and headed toward our final destination, which in last night’s case was Frankfurt, Germany.
Christopher Forgy: So he’s not focused on the ground, but what’s ahead, yes?
Samuel Bush: No, he is not. He is focused on what’s in front of him.
Christopher Forgy: We’re going some place with this. We don’t spend a lot of time with the ground behind us. We choose to focus on the task at hand ahead of us and trust our processes and each other to deliver the enterprise to its desired destination. However, at the same time, sometimes it is also helpful to look back in order to see where you have been and where you’re going.
