Dateline: September 20, 2007

City sales tax revenue drops 

Austin – Texas Comptroller Susan Combs said last week the state collected $1.85 billion in sales tax in August, up 12.7 percent compared to a year ago. 

Local sales tax collections were mixed with Clarendon and Hedley’s allocations declining while Howardwick’s allocation increased.

The City of Clarendon received $22,208.64 for August, which is down more than 15 percent from the same period one month ago. The city is still ahead on the year-to-date figure but just barely, up 0.34 percent with a total of $220,554.82.

Hedley’s allocation dropped 55.76 percent to $405.22 in August, bringing that city’s year-to-date figure down 27.48 percent to $5,285.46.

Howardwick saw an 8.52 percent increase to $1,577.55 in August, which pushed its total for the year-to-date to $9,580.03, up 5.42 percent.

Combs sent September sales tax allocations of $302.9 million to Texas cities, up 9.1 percent compared to September 2006. 

September’s allocations include local sales taxes collected in July and reported in August.