Bridgeport leads county in tax rebates

Published Thursday, January 24, 2008

By Denny Deady

After finishing ahead of all other Wise County cities in sales tax rebates last year, Bridgeport began the new year with $345,266 in rebates, a 43 percent increase over January 2007 and more than any other city in the county.

Last January, Bridgeport earned $241,992 in rebates.

January allocations from the state comptroller represent sales that occurred in November with sales tax collected in December.

Decatur earned $297,367 to start off the new year, a 19 percent increase over the $249,985 the city received this time last year.

Boyd experienced the biggest increase of any city in the county. Boyd's $31,473 allocation is up 121 percent over the $14,255 the city received in January 2007. New Fairview's share, $42,554, is up 115 percent over last January.

Declines were felt by the cities of Alvord, minus 76 percent; Lake Bridgeport, minus 36 percent and Rhome, minus 5 percent.

Wise County's share of the sales tax amounted to $351,662, a 15 percent increase over the January 2007 total of $304,651.

The state collected $1.83 billion in sales tax revenue in December, up 9.1 percent compared to December 2006. Allocations amounted to $448.3 million, up 7.3 percent compared to January 2007. Texas cities' rebates were up 7.4 percent compared to a year ago and county sales tax payments were up 5.7 percent.