Sales tax revenues increase

All three Donley County municipalities posted gains last week when Texas Comptroller Susan Combs delivered sales tax revenues collected in October.

The City of Clarendon received an allocation of $37,791.40, which is up 16.44 percent from the same period one year ago. That brings the city ahead 2.52 percent for the year to date with $285,033.99
Hedley’s revenue for the month increased 36.53 percent to $1,303.56, but that city is still lagging for the year-to-date, which is down 5.54 percent.

Howardwick saw a 5.19 percent increase for the month with an allocation of $1,570.35; but after two disappointing previous months, the city is still down 12.28 percent for the year.

Statewide, the comptroller collected $1.52 billion in sales tax revenue in October, down 12.8 percent compared to October 2008.

“Declining sales tax collections, which began in February, have continued with October’s collections,” Combs said. “Tax collections are down in major sectors of the economy, including retail trade, oil and natural gas, and construction.”

Statewide sales tax allocations are down 8.7 percent compared to November 2008.

November sales tax allocations represent September sales reported to the Comptroller in October by monthly tax filers and July, August and September sales reported in October by quarterly tax filers.