Jacksboro sees sales tax revenue increase

Jacksboro saw a 35.42 percent increase in sales tax revenue paid out in July, $81,996 compared to $60,545 for July 2016.

City officials budgeted for a significant decrease in sales tax revenue for the 2016-17 fiscal year set to end Sept. 30. Ten months in and year-to-date sales tax shows a 2.3 percent decrease — $525,332 compared to $537,728 for the same period in 2016.

For the past two months, Jacksboro has exceeded the previous year’s allocation. In June, sales tax revenue was $77,300 compared to 2016’s $52,739.

“June and July allocations are based on April and May sales so I don’t know specifically what drove the increase,” said Jacksboro City Manager Mike Smith. “We don’t have any new businesses necessarily. Unless it’s just like the rest of the economy that’s being optimistic, I can’t attribute it to anything specific.”

Smith said hopefully the tide has turned after seeing monthly decreases compared to the same period the previous year since May 2016.

“We’re hoping it’s a trend that will continue but we’re still going to be conservative in our budget estimates for next year,” Smith said.

Despite estimating lower sales tax revenue for the current fiscal year, Smith believes the allocations will still fall short close to $100,000 of the $830,000 in revenue budgeted.

The City of Bryson saw a decrease in its sales tax revenue for July receiving $5,994 compared to July 2016’s $8,033 — a 25.37 percent decrease. Year-to-date, Bryson’s sales tax revenue is down 24.44 percent at $44,520 so far this year compared to $58,926 for the same period last year.