City Sales Tax Lagging from 2018 Figures

The Sales Tax for the City of Lamar was up 2.43% for January, 2019, collected in February of this year. The gain accounts for $5,792.85 in revenue comparing 2018 figures to $243,849.61 collected for this year.  Use Tax collections for this period dropped 65.14% for a loss of $25,889.36 and Other Collections were also down by 41.55% for a minor setback of $744.  Total Sales and Use Tax collections were down 7.45% for a drop of $20,840.58.  Collections for 2018 at this time were $279,589.56 while 2019 posted $258,748.98.

Year to Date figures were also smaller for the start of 2019 with City Sales Tax off 8.69% for a drop of $57,378.62. 2018 collections were $660,662 compared to 2019 of $603,283.98.  Use Tax collections took a hit from the overall drop in construction and building activity by 62.88% which translated to a reduction in revenues of $68,761.34.  Collections for 2018 were $109,354.96 and were $40,593.62 for 2019.  Total Sales and Use Tax collections were down 16.04% for a difference of $125,525.82 with collections for 2018 at $782,680.29 and at $657,154.47 for this year.

Half of the twelve retail trade categories for revenue collections were off comparing 2019 to 2018 including Building Materials, All Business Electricity and C Stores and Gas Sales.