Dateline: April 14, 2005

Rural development to be forum's focus

AUSTIN – Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn said last week that the state received $1.2 billion in sales tax revenue in March, a two percent increase compared to March 2004.

Local sales tax revenues also continue to grow across the state, and the City of Clarendon is on the plus side of the column for the first time this calendar year with a 14.88 percent increase for March and sales tax receipts of $17,082.49 up from $14,869.02.

The good news puts Clarendon just slightly ahead – by 0.63 percent for collections for the year to date.

Howardwick was also up slightly by 1.89 percent for an allocation of $799.33, but Hedley was down by more than 23 percent to $377.51.

Comptroller Strayhorn sent April sales tax allocations of $211.7 million to Texas cities, up 6.3 percent compared to April 2004. Calendar year-to-date, city sales tax allocations are running nearly 7 percent higher than last year.