Sales tax receipts grow for two NW counties

BENTONVILLE -- November sales tax reports for Benton and Washington counties showed continuing growth in revenue, with Benton County officials saying they were pleasantly surprised with the increase.

Benton County's sales tax receipts for November, reflecting sales taxes collected by local businesses in September, jumped by 19.67 percent over the same month in 2014, according to Brenda Guenther, comptroller.

"It was a great month," Guenther said.

Both counties collect a 1 percent sales tax. The tax receipts are apportioned among the county and the cities in each county on the basis of population.

The Benton County's monthly sales tax revenue for November grew by about $121,000 from $619,058 in 2014 to $740,853 in 2015, she said. The county's adjusted sales tax revenue projection for 2015 has climbed back above $8 million after dipping slightly below that amount when the October report showed a 6.8 percent year-over-year falloff, Guenther said. Benton County budgeted sales tax revenue for 2015 at $7.3 million.

"We do an automatic calculation so now it's over $8 million projection for the year," she said. "We're about three-quarters of a million dollars over our budgeted amount."

Washington County's sales tax report for November showed revenue growing by 4.81 percent over the same month in 2014, according to Treasurer Bobby Hill.

"That puts us about $26,000 over the same month last year," Hill said. "We're doing real well. We're pleased with the report."

Hill said Washington County's November sales tax revenue grew from $528,601 in 2014 to $555,283 in 2015. For the year-to-date, he said, the county's sales tax revenue of just more than $6 million is up by about $307,270, or 5.12 percent, above the same period in 2014. The county budgeted for about $6.3 million in revenue this year, an increase of 1.3 percent over 2014. Hill said the sales tax reports have shown consistent growth.

"If you go back to last year, we've seen growth in 19 out of the past 20 months. There's no complaints from the treasurer's office."

Benton County's sales tax receipts have fluctuated more than Washington County's, Benton County Justice of the Peace Joel Jones said.

"Last month was a down month, so that's not a trend," Jones said. "There's no predicting it right now. It goes up then comes down and it goes up and comes down. But that's a good number for November. It'll help us get to our budget projection."

Metro on 12/01/2015

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