May sales tax slumps

By Loyd Cook

May 11, 2008 09:23 pm

— A significant decline in sales tax revenues returned to area entities this month has knocked the year-to-date total revenue down to nearly the same level as a year ago.
Sales tax numbers were released by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts office on its Web site Friday.
The 16 area entities collecting the sales tax combined for a bit more than $670,000 in money returned by the state in May, down from nearly $740,000 returned in May 2007 — a drop of more than 9 percent, according to the state’s figures.
The City of Corsicana — No. 1 of the 16 sales tax collecting entities — showed a decline of slightly more than 8 percent in May. Navarro County, No. 2 on the list, posted a 10.45 percent slide for the month.
Corsicana’s receipts of about $480,000 were down from last May when it received slightly more than $522,000.
Navarro County was down from more than $174,000 in May 2007, to just above $156,000 in the latest report.
Eleven of the 16 entities posted declines for May, according to the comptroller’s office.
The slump in the May returns affected the overall picture for 2008 to date. After April returns were added, the area was up more than 3.4 percent.
With the latest addition by subtraction, the area’s gain was down to a near-nonexistent one-third of one percentage point for the year.
Those overall numbers are as compared to the same points in 2007.
Eleven of the 16 entities are still ahead of last year’s pace, but only Blooming Grove, Eureka and Kerens showed gains that were actually significant.
Blooming Grove surpassed $8,400 for the year after being at about $6,700 in 2007 at the same point.
Eureka is up 21 percent for 2008, but with total receipts only at slightly more than $5,100, the actual dollar gain was somewhat smaller.
Kerens, No. 3 on the sales tax list, had a slight decline of 1.46 percent for May, but remains 11.87 percent ahead of last year, according to the comptroller’s report. The city has surpassed the $50,000 mark, ahead of last year’s $44,000 recorded after May returns were added in.
May sales taxes returned from the state come from collections in March, reported in April and returned this month.
The comptroller’s June report is expected to be released on Friday, June 13.
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Loyd Cook may be reached via e-mail at lcook@corsicanadailysun.com