County shows sales tax growth

August 08, 2008 11:04 am

— By Kelly Young
kyoung@jacksonvilleprogress.com
Fueled by possibly the most successful Tomato Fest in Jacksonville history, the city’s sales tax numbers rebounded nicely in August after a disappointing allocation in July.
Jacksonville’s sales tax payment from the Texas Comptroller’s office increased from $293,575.10 in August 2007 to $307,583.53 in August 2008 — an upswing of 4.77 percent. The August figures bring the city’s allocation for the year-to-date up to $2,023,170.75 — an increase of $46,232.69 (2.33 percent) compared to the amount received last year through eight months.
“I thought the sales tax figure was either going to stay about the same as last year or was going to be up a little bit, but for it to have increased nearly 5 percent was a nice surprise,” said City Manager Mo Raissi.
Raissi credits the August numbers, which are based on sales in June, on two things — Tomato Fest and economic stimulus checks.
“We had a very, very successful Tomato Fest back in June, and I think we are seeing the effect of that on this month’s figures,” he said. “Tomato Fest itself doesn’t provide sales tax revenue, but it brings thousands of people into town, and they shop and eat while here, which generates sales tax for the city.”
He believes the fact that nearly all surrounding municipalities had strong showings this month is evidence that stimulus checks are having the desired effect.
“The fact that nearly all surrounding cities were negative last month, and all but two are positive this month tells me that we are seeing the effect of people spending their economic incentive checks locally,” Raissi said. “The two towns that didn’t see growth in August (Troup and Frankston) are the smallest cities with the least number of shops.”
Only one sales tax payment remains during Fiscal Year 2007-2008 — which ends Sept. 30. Raissi said he has been quite pleased with this year’s steady growth, especially considering how the year began.
“We are up 2.33 percent so far for the year-to-date, and after the bad year we had in 2007, with 10 out of 12 months being negative, we have been happy to see the numbers that we have. Considering we lost those two companies (Alliance Data and Astro Air) earlier in the year, being up 2.33 percent is pretty good,” he said.
Raissi said he is optimistic the city’s slow but steady growth will continue throughout the summer. The comptroller’s next local sales tax allocation will be made Sept. 12.