Decatur takes the lead in county sales tax reveune

Published Thursday, February 28, 2008

By Denny Deady

After several months trailing Bridgeport in sales tax rebates, the city of Decatur moved back into the lead in February with $377,152 in rebates.

Bridgeport was second in the county with $368,559. Bridgeport's share represented a 48 percent increase over February 2007 and brought the yearly total for the city to $713,825, a 45 percent increase over this time a year ago.

Decatur's monthly total is 6 percent above the February 2007 amount and brings the city's year to date total to $674,519, an 11 percent increase over the same period last year.

January sales tax collections and February's alloctions primarily represent sales made in December, but also include earlier sales by businesses that report sales tax to the state on a quarterly or annual basis.

Wise County's share for February was $460,256, a 12 percent increase over this time last year. Through the first two months of the year, the county has earned $811,918, a 14 percent increase over the same period in 2007.

Boyd's rebate check continued to soar in 2008 as the city received $40,362, a 68 percent increase over the $24,076 earned in February last year. For the year, Boyd is up 87 percent, at $71,835.

New Fairview experienced a 92 percent increase in February rebates, at $37,311. Last year at this time, New Fairview received $19,467.

Declines in sales tax revenue were felt by the cities of Alvord, Aurora, Lake Bridgeport and Rhome.

The state comptroller sent $434.3 million in sales tax to Texas cities, up 5 percent compared to February 2007 payments. Texas counties received February sales tax payments of $37.7 million, up 6 percent compared to last February.