NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — Sales tax collections for the year are up in Bentonville and Springdale, and increases in Rogers and Fayetteville will probably mean those cities will break previous annual collection records.
Bentonville and Rogers led the region in percentage increases over the same period last year, with both cities having double-digit increases.
Sales tax revenue reported in October reflects August tax collected in September. Comparisons are based on collections from the same month in the previous year.
Each city, with the exception of Bella Vista, collects a 2 percent sales tax. One percent is devoted to repaying bonds. The other 1 percent goes into each city’s general fund and is available for operations. For the purpose of this report, Northwest Arkansas Newspapers tracks the 1 percent going into general funds.
Bentonville collected $754,148 in sales tax revenue, $109,436 more than the $644,402 received in October last year, an increase of 16.9 percent.
“We were down a little last month; it’s good to be up in double digits this month,” said Denise Land, Bentonville finance director. “We budgeted for an average sales tax collection of $683,000 per month this year. In reality, we have been averaging $784,000 per month. That makes me pretty happy. If our collections hold for the next two months, I think we should collect more than $9 million this year.”
Rogers was up 10.4 percent over last year, with collections this month at $1,099,081 compared with $995,533 for the same period last year, an increase of $103,547.
“We’re doing much better this year than last year, which was a record for us in sales tax collections,” said Richard McComas, Rogers treasurer and chief financial officer. “Last year was our best sales tax collection year ever at more than $12 million. If we keep collections up the next two months, we could hit $13 million this year.”
Fayetteville, collected $1,549,503 this month compared to $1,451,266 last October an increase of $98,236, or a 6.7 percent increase.
By The Numbers
Sales Tax Numbers For October
City October 2011 October 2012 Percentage Change YTD 2011 YTD 2012
Bentonville $644,602 $754,148 +16.99 $6,933,423 $7,665,781
Rogers $995,533 $1,099,081 +10.4 $10,038,271 $10,888,490
Springdale $880,652 $918,073 +4.25 $8,277,262 $8,499,222
Fayetteville $1,451,266 $1,549,503 +6.7 $13,614,943 $14,480,935
Siloam Springs $246,322 $240,144 -2.5 $2,396,843 $2,171,005
Bella Vista $113,190 $118,379 +4.6 $1,076,009 $1,078,607
Lowell $206,929 $204,340 -1.3 $1,930,231 $2,005,583
Source: Staff Report
“We had a good strong month with collections up more than 6 percent over last year,” said Paul Becker, Fayetteville finance director. “Things slowed down for us when the recession hit in 2008. We’ve been coming back a little each year. Last year we had record sales tax collections. I think we’re going to exceed that record this year. We might even hit $17 million. We seem to be back on track.”
Springdale collected $918,073 this month compared with $880,625 for the same period last year, an increase of $37,421, or 4.25 percent.
“We are up for the year and our finances are looking better,” said Wyman Morgan, Springdale director of finance and administration. “I think we are going to hit $10 million in collections this year. Business seems to be turning around in Springdale. We’re ahead of budget and doing well.”
Rogers needs to collect more than $1,214,407 in sales tax revenue the next two months to beat the city’s previous collection record, $12,102,897, set last year.
Fayetteville set its sales tax collection record, $16,505,687, in 2012. The city needs to collect $2,024,752 the next two months to break the 2011 record.
Springdale set its sales tax collection record in 2006 at $12,484,401, but hasn’t collected $10 million in sales tax since 2008. To reach the $10 million mark this year, Springdale must collect $1,982,534 the next two months.
Bentonville’s sales tax collections peaked in 2008 at $8,496,607. The city needs to collect more than $830,826 over the next two months to beat 2008 collections.