Comptroller gives November tax numbers

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced last week he will send cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts $626.3 million in local sales tax allocations for December, 3 percent less than in December 2014. These allocations are based on sales made in October by businesses that report taxes monthly.

Hegar also said today that sales tax revenue for the state in November was $2.58 billion, down 3.3 percent compared to November 2014.

Gonzales County is off 36.67 percent from December 2014. This year’s $229,295.30 monthly haul is far below the $362,076.69 seen last year. For the calendar year the county is down 6.09 percent to $3,487,426.54.

Gonzales itself is down 35.34 percent from a snapshot taken last December. The city’s $191,924.24 haul for last month is a bit far from the $296.859.70 seen last year. For the year-to-date, Gonzales is down 5.74 percent in its sales tax allocations, totaling $2,743,416.82.

The City of Nixon is down 47.98 percent from this time last year, bringing in $28,470.82. For the year that city is below 2014’s mark, down 9.86 percent for a total of $653,417.32.

Smiley also continues to see a drop. Their December haul of $4,026.79 is down 37.55 percent to last year. So far, they have brought in $41,574.18.

Waelder continues to be the only city in the county to show sales tax gains. They are up 20.92 percent over last December with $4,873.45. That goes with their annual improvement of 23.08 percent, totaling $49,018.22.

“Sales tax revenue declined again due to reduced spending in oil and gas-related sectors,” Hegar said. “Remittances from other sectors, including construction, restaurants and retail trade, continued to grow. The net decrease in sales tax receipts is in line with the October Certification Revenue Estimate.”