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Money.
Sales tax allocation to city and counties are up, according to the June 2022 Sales Tax Comparison Summary Reports published by Texas Comptroller Glenn Hager’s Office earlier this month.
The reports present data on monthly local sales and use tax payments to local jurisdictions. The payments represent funds identified for local jurisdictions since the previous month’s distribution. June allocations are based on sales made in April by businesses that report tax monthly.
Most of the cities in Hardin, Jefferson and Orange counties saw an increase in allocations compared to the June 2021 figure. Hardin County, Sour Lake and Kountze showed increases in their allocations compared to the same period in 2021
According to the reports, Sour Lake had a 14.16% increase in their net allocations this period from $87,124 in 2021 to $99,468 this year.
The city also shows a 5.34% increase in year-to-date allocations from $548,636 to $577,952.
City Manager Jack Provost said the city’s experienced a “couple of good months.”
“We’re typically averaging around from $70,000 to $75,000 per month,” he said. “For two months in a row, we had over $100,000.”
Provost attributes the increased allocation to money spent at new businesses and people purchasing new homes, which results in more people shopping locally.
“We have an O’Reilly’s now and several other new retail businesses, a restaurant and a tavern,” he said. “Lots of little things add up to big things.”
Provost added there is plenty of construction underway in and around the city.
“Construction is probably up about 20% from last year. We have an addition east of the city limits in which we are furnishing water,” he said. “They are putting in around 90 homes and they have about 37 already started. They’ve already pulled all their permits on everything.”
Inside the city limits, Provost said there’s been a 20% increase in permits so far this year.
“Everybody wants to be in Sour Lake,” he said. “And it’s going to demand more businesses. The more people you have, the more businesses need to be here to keep them from going someplace else. You want to keep all your revenue here at home.”
In the reports, Kountze showed a 9.3% increase from $50,182 in 2021 to $54,852. The city also had a 26.74% increase in the year-to-date payment from last year’s $338,275 to $428,748.
Lumberton shows a 1.13% decrease in allocations this period, from $394,725 in 2021 to $390,231 this year. The city’s year-to-date payment is up 5.36% from $2.33 million last year to $2.45 million.
“I’m hoping it continues to grow more and more,” said City Manager Steve Clark.
Clark attributes the increase to more people shopping and spending money locally.
“That’s what is increasing our sales tax revenue for the most part,” he said. “We’ve got more people coming in every year and we’re averaging at least 100 new homes every year. With every one of those homes comes a mommy, a daddy and kids. As long as they are shopping local, we’re going to benefit from it.”
Clark said also there are a lot of businesses on “the radar.”
“Until they come and pull a permit, it’s hard to tell what’s coming in and things can change,” he said.
He said the city has several small businesses coming in and possibly a 5-acre complex coming in south of the high school.
“No businesses have pulled permits from that yet,” Clark added. “We just hear rumors through the grapevine and I don’t talk about it when I hear rumors.”
The city manager noted some commercial businesses are expanding and residential growth continues. Another bank and car wash are under construction, according to Clark.
“On car washes, we get something if they purchase products,” he added. “At the banks, we get something if they eat, buy gas or buy groceries. That’s where we get our money from.”
Silsbee showed a 6.81% decrease in this period’s payment compared to 2021. During this period the city reported $282,236 compared to $302,985 in 2021.
The city shows a slight increase in year-to-date payment from $1.818 million to $1.819 million.
There were no figures released for Hardin County.
In Jefferson County, the report shows a slight decrease of 1.6% in allocations from this period last year. During this period, the county reported $2.8 million, compared to $2.853 million in June 2021.
Beaumont reported a 0.83% increase this period from $3.648 million last year to $3.679 million. In year-to-date payment, the city reported $26.525 million – up 20.67% from $21.757 million in 2021.
For Port Arthur, the city reported a 2.82% drop in allocations this period from 2021. The city shows $1.625 million, down from last year’s $1.672 million. But the city has a 26.30% increase in its year-to-date payment from $8.9 million in 2021 to $11.25 million this year.
Among the cities within Jefferson County, the summary shows Port Neches with the largest percentage of increase in allocations this period compared to 2021. The city will receive $277,974 – a 79.63% increase – compared to $154,974 for the same time last year.
Orange County reported a 9.72% increase in this period’s allocations of $566,237, up from $516,065 in 2021.
Within the county, the city of Orange reported the largest increase in allocations for the period. According to data, the city is allocated $705,963, up 29.36% from last year’s $545,697. In year-to-date payments, the city has a 14.64% increase from $3.41 million in 2021 to $3.91 million this year.
Statewide, the total net allocations this period were $647 billion compared to $585 billion in 2021 – an increase of 10.51%. The total year-to-date allocations show a 16.8% increase from $3.395 billion in 2021 to $3.965 billion.