City Sales Tax Figures Up

TYLER — Information from the Texas Comptroller indicates that City of Tyler sales tax revenues deposited for the month of June have increased 6.46 percent as compared to May 2011, resulting in a 3.47 percent cumulative year-to-date increase. The reported revenue of $2,634,914.84 comprises $1,756,609.88 general sales tax revenue and $878,304.94 half-cent sales tax revenue. The figures represent receipts from April 2011 collections as there is a two-month lag before taxes are reported and remitted back to the City from the State.

�We continue to see steady, incremental growth in our sales tax revenues as compared to where we were last year,� said City Manager Mark McDaniel. �The relatively greater increase for this month largely reflects an adjustment for prior collections, which means that the last few months� collections were artificially low. Bottom line, we are up 3.47 percent so far versus the conservative 2 percent growth forecasted.�

The City is already into its 2011-2012 budget preparation cycle. Officials say individual departments have prepared budgets that were submitted to the City Manager in May, and staff-level budget hearings will take place throughout June; the final proposed budget will be presented to the City Council on August 10. �Although sales tax collections continue to increase, we anticipate this will be another tight budget year. We made many cuts last year to offset significantly lower revenue – without dramatically affecting service levels,� added McDaniel. �We are still recovering from those cuts in staffing and the delay of projects. Basically, we will be looking at a �maintenance budget� with no new programming or costly initiatives.�