Dateline: April 17, 2008

City sales tax revenue rebounds in March 

AUSTIN – Clarendon’s sales tax revenue rebounded in March, reflecting strong February sales activity.

Texas Comptroller Susan Combs sent Clarendon’s allocation of $20,623.63 on Friday, which is an increase of 1.81 percent over last March’s rebate.

The moderate growth was enough to overcome the 4.81 percent drop the city suffered in its February allocation; and the year-to-date figure, which had dipped into negative territory, is now up 0.22 percent to $92,835.14.

Howardwick’s sales tax revenue dropped 23.72 percent in March to $810.96, but that city remained 15.89 percent for the year-to-date at $4,456.86.

Hedley saw growth of 22.1 percent for an allocation of $405.73 but remained 3.65 percent down for the year-to-date at $2,370.94.

Statewide, Combs said Texas received $1.6 billion in sales tax revenue in March, up 7.4 percent compared to March 2007.

“Since the beginning of the fiscal year in September 2007, state sales tax collections have increased 7.2 percent compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year,” Combs said. “Although the national economy is slowing, here in Texas, growth in sales tax collections remains consistent.”