County sales tax taper slightly
Monthly sales tax revenue figures for the six Van Zandt County continued to be a mixed bag during the month of July, with information released by the office of Texas State Comptroller Glenn Hegar showing the gains made by Edom, Grand Saline and Van being offset by drops in collections by Canton, Edgewood and Wills Point.
Van, for the second time in as many months, helped lead the way for Van Zandt County by seeing sales tax revenue figures improve $2,951.75 over the $54,385.79 collected in July 2015.
Grand Saline finished just behind Van, seeing sales tax revenue collections climb $1,272.51 over the $45,465.82 collected for the same calendar month last year.
Edom continued what has become a strong resurgence in 2016, collecting $1,599.52 for July 2016. That figure was up a county best 20.97 percent over the $1,322.21 collected in July 2015.
Wills Point once again missed being on the positive side of the ledger, showing a narrow drop of $5,679.44 or 6.73 percent from the $84,362.14 collected when comparing against the same calendar month in 2015.
Canton followed a similar path as Wills Point, receiving a payment of $274,120.79 in July 2016. That total was down $7,164.15 or 2.55 percent over the same monthly payment in 2015.
The Edgewood economy continued its recent downward trend, following last month’s $3,042 drop in sales tax revenue collections with a $4,735.66 drop when comparing against the same calendar month in 2015.
As a whole, county cities were down a combined $13,077.68 over last year’s figures for the month.
For the year, Canton, up $97,275.28 in year-to-date figures, Van, up $61,114.75 in year-to-date figures, Grand Saline, up $15,317.84 in year-to-date figures, and Edom, up $1,034.86 in year-to-date figures, are all currently ahead of their 2015 pace through seven months.
Wills Point narrowly finds itself on the wrong side of the ledger, showing a drop of $1,206.25 in year-to-date figures. Edgewood has seen the biggest negative change in overall sales tax revenue collections for 2016, currently sitting $18,240.92 behind its 2015 pace.
More than halfway through the year, Van Zandt County cities are currently up a combined $155,295.56, or 4.56 percent.
In a press release announcing the figures, Hegar stated that his office would send, “cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts $624 million in local sales tax allocations for July, 2.3 percent more than in July 2015. These allocations are based on sales made in May by businesses that report tax monthly.”
Hegar added, “The cities of Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and Fort Worth saw noticeable increases in sales tax allocations. Energy-centric cities such as Houston and Midland continue to see decreases in sales tax allocations.”
