Benton, Washington counties' sales tax growth slows

BENTONVILLE -- Benton and Washington counties saw a string of monthly sales tax reports showing significant growth come to an end in April, but officials say they're not worried.

In Washington County, Treasurer Bobby Hill said the sales tax report for April showed receipts of $488,570, which was $17,802 below the same month last year when the county received $506,372.

"That's the first time in the last 12 months we were down," Hill said. "So the streak is over."

Washington County still shows strong growth for the first four months of 2015, with sales tax receipts of $2,109,992 being $125,136 over the same period in 2014, Hill said. For the full year of 2014 the county received $6,228,583 in sales tax revenue. The 2015 budget sets a target for sales tax of $6,306,000.

"We're up by 5.93 percent for the year-to-date," Hill said "Our projection was for growth of 1.3 percent."

The Fayetteville School District had three snow days in February, the month when the taxes were collected by merchants, and that may have reduced economic activity, Hill said. Also, April was a very good month in 2014 and tough to match, he said.

"Hopefully this is just a hiccup," Hill said.

In Benton County, sales tax receipts for April were just barely above the same month last year, rising by $280 from $605,605 in 2014 to $605,885 this year, said Brenda Guenther, comptroller. For the first four months of the year, the county's sales tax receipts are up by $191,714, a 7.95 increase, Guenther said. Benton County received $7,478,181 in sales tax revenue for 2014 and has budgeted for $7.3 million in 2015.

Tom Allen, justice of the peace for District 4 and chairman of the Benton County Finance Committee, said the decline is something to watch, but not yet a cause for concern.

"That's the first month of zero increase we've had in six months," Allen said. "Obviously it slows down some of the optimism we've had for the last six months, but it's just one month. I think we'll want to wait and see to be sure it's not just a blip in the radar screen."

Barry Moehring, justice of the peace for District 15, said Benton County's finances still appear strong.

"Having one month of hitting our target, as opposed to being way above target, is not a cause for concern," Moehring said. "If we do no more than hit our target for the rest of the year we'll be fine because we're already $191,000 above our target for the year."

Moehring expects the Quorum Court to remain cautious with spending requests, but said the ongoing debate over a new courts building, which could cost the county around $25 million, won't influence the normal mid-year budget requests.

"I think requests for things that are absolutely needed should be considered as they always are," he said. "I would be more concerned about things that should have been brought to us in the normal budget process than I would be about new requests."

NW News on 04/29/2015

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