Posted 10:04 am Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Tyler Sees Sales Tax Boost In May
By GREG JUNEK
Business Editor
Sales tax revenue to the city of Tyler was sitting at 7.51 percent greater for the calendar year than at the same time last year, after the May allocation hit the coffers.
Business Editor
Sales tax revenue to the city of Tyler was sitting at 7.51 percent greater for the calendar year than at the same time last year, after the May allocation hit the coffers.
Since January, the city has received $16.05 million in sales tax revenue.
Figures from the Texas Comptroller’s Office showed an 8.77 percent increase in May, compared to the same month a year ago. The office allocated $3.68 million to Tyler on May 9, compared to $3.38 million in May 2007.
The figures represent receipts from March collections.
“I am very pleased to see the Tyler market is staying strong,” Mark McDaniel, city manager designate, said. “Our sales tax revenues have consistently grown, which is a positive statement about Tyler’s diverse economy.”
Tyler’s allocation was part of $377.7 million the comptroller’s office sent to Texas cities. The office said allocations were up 1.4 percent compared to 2007.
Also in Smith County, Lindale saw its May allocation increase 10.27 percent, with a $201,072 allocation. Its year-to-date total is up 4.23 percent. And Whitehouse’s May allocation of $54,553 was 5.69 percent more than last May. Whitehouse allocations are up 6.55 percent year to date.
Some cities of nearly the same size as Tyler, however, did not fare as well as the Rose City, and a glance of the largest East Texas cities in counties surrounding Smith County reveals about half receiving allocations that are less than they were in May 2007. This is unusual because a large majority of the cities have shown positive allocations each month for the past several years.
Outside of East Texas, Waco received a $2.62 million allocation, down 2.31 percent from its May 2007 allocation. Calendar year to date, the city is 0.59 percent ahead of last year.
Abilene received $3.28 million, 3.19 percent less than the same month last year. Its calendar-year-to-date allocation total is 0.14 percent more than last year, according to comptroller’s figures.
Beaumont’s May allocation of $3.58 million is 2 percent less than its May 2007 allocation. Since January, however, its sales tax collections are up 6.08 percent.
And Longview’s $2.59 million allocation this month is down $1.39 percent from the same month last year. Year to date, Longview has received $11.84 million in sales tax revenue, a 2.65 percent increase over 2007.
Texas Comptroller Susan Combs announced the state collected $1.7 billion in sales tax revenue in April, down 1.8 percent compared to April 2007.
“This was a slight decrease compared to the dramatic growth seen in April 2007,” Combs said. “For the eight months of fiscal 2008 to date, state sales tax collections are up 6 percent compared to the previous year.”
As expected, the slower expansion of the Texas economy in 2008 is translating into sales tax growth below the double-digit pace of the past two years, according to information from the comptroller’s office.
These East Texas cities received May sales tax rebates from March collections. The numbers in parentheses are the amounts they received in May 2007:
