Kilgore sales tax allocations drop

Kilgore's sales tax allocation tax check in July dropped by 23 percent and more than $190,000 compared to the same period last year, according to the Texas Comptroller's Office.

This week the city received a check for $629,549.71, down 23.19 percent from the $819,657.65 received last July. The city's tax rate is 1.5 percent.

The good news is that Kilgore to date has received $6,394,861.83 in sales tax allocations, up 2.86 percent over the same period last year when it received $6,217,035.42.

Jeff Howell, city manager, said he had expected the sales tax rebate to go down because of the nature of the economy in recent months.

"But collections have been so good during the first part of the year that this little downturn does not jeopardize us from collecting what we estimated, which was around $6 million," Howell said. "We're still ahead to date and we have met our estimated revenue budget for the year this month, so that means whatever comes in in August and September is in addition to what we estimated."

Texas Comptroller Susan Combs Friday announced that the state collected $1.57 billion in sales tax revenue in June, down 11.2 percent compared to June 2008. State sales tax collections in June and local sales tax allocations in July represent sales that occurred in May.

"The oil and gas, construction and retail trade sectors showed continued weakness, resulting in a sharp decrease in sales tax collections in June," Combs said. "Contributing to the decrease was not only the weakness in these three sectors, but also the strong level of collections received from them in June 2008."

Longview received an allocation check for $1.982,443.87. This is 6.7 percent drop the allocation of $16,790,763.78 received this same period last year. Longview's tax rate is also 1.5 percent.

Lakeport's sales tax rebate of $6,108.72 this month is 34.25 percent lower than the $9,292.21 received last July. Lakeport's sales tax rate is 1 percent.

For this reporting period, White Oak is down 30.34 percent with $58,741.63 received this month compared to $84,330.41 in July 2008. The city's sales tax rate is 1.5 percent.

Gladewater's check this month for $73,894.85 is up 6.54 percent from the $69,357 earned during the same reporting period last year. Its sales tax rate is also 1.5 percent.

The total allocation to all of the cities within the county, which also includes Clarksville City, Warren City and Easton, totals $2,754,324.79, down 11.47 percent from the July 2008 total of $3,111,462.54.

Gregg County sales tax revenues are down 11.67 percent with a sales tax revenue return of $987,319.10 this period. In the same period last year, the county received $1,117,780.06.

In Henderson, where the sales tax rate is 2 percent, the sales tax rebate was $377,704.01 this month, down 14.29 percent above the $440,700.30 received during this same period last year.

Overton, with a 1.5 percent tax rate, received a check for $22,435.80, down 8.28 percent from last July's check for $24,462.77.

Tyler is number 19 on the comptroller's list of Top 20 Texas cities for sales tax revenue earnings. During this payment period, Tyler received $2,724,768.09, down 4.1 percent from the same period last year when the city received a check for $2,841,417.93. The city's sales tax rate is 1.5 percent.

Smith County received an allocation of $1,180,565.42, down 7.83 percent from the $1,280,923.06 received at this time last year.

Both Smith and Gregg counties collect sales taxes of .5 percent on retail sales in unincorporated areas. Rusk County does not levy a sales tax in unincorporated areas.

The Texas state sales and use tax rate is 6.25 percent, but local taxing jurisdictions — cities, counties, special purpose districts, and transit authorities — may also impose sales and use tax up to 2 percent for a total maximum combined rate of 8.25 percent.

Combs sent July sales tax allocations totaling $426.7 million to cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts, down 8.8 percent compared to July 2008.

Combs sent July sales tax allocations of $284.3 million to Texas cities, down 8.8 percent compared to July 2008. So far this calendar year, city sales tax allocations are down 1.6 percent compared to the same time period last year. Texas counties received sales tax payments of $26 million, down 10 percent compared to last July. So far this year, sales tax allocations to counties are up 0.9 percent compared to this point in 2008.

Combs sent $16.6 million to 151 special purpose taxing districts, down 5.5 percent compared to last July. Ten local transit systems received $99.6 million in sales tax allocations, down 8.9 percent compared to a year ago.