Northwest Arkansas cities sales tax revenue rising

FAYETTEVILLE -- Cities and counties in Northwest Arkansas got some surprisingly good news from the state last week about monthly sales tax revenue.

Each of the four largest cities -- Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers and Bentonville -- had an increase in the revenue from their 1% sales tax as did Benton and Washington counties. The revenue received in November is from sales in September. Revenue for each city and county increased compared to November 2019.

Fayetteville received $2,128,259, a 8.32% increase from the $1,964,803.

Springdale received $1,560,549, up 9.44% from the $1,426,003.

Rogers received $1,841,077, a 3.45% increase from the $1,779,698.

Bentonville received $1,491,612, a 17.29% increase of compared to $1,271,769.

Benton County received $1,019,369 in revenue from the county's share of its 1% sales tax. That was a 12.46% increase from the $906,414 in November 2019.

Washington County received $761,836, a 10.45% increase over the $689,745.

Kevin Springer, with Fayetteville, said, "I was very surprised, but also very pleased."

Springer said the city had been waiting for the sales from the month of September to give an indication of how the continuing covid-19 pandemic might impact the city's finances.

He said September is typically a strong month with students returning to school and to the University of Arkansas and events such as Bikes, Blues & BBQ motorcycle rally and Razorback football games normally giving the local economy a boost. The rally was canceled, and attendance at Razorback games has been limited by the pandemic.

Springer said the growth across the county was also surprising.

"Washington County was higher than Fayetteville and Springdale," he said. "Usually, it's in the middle."

Springer said the city's sales tax revenue is up about 4.755% through November over the same 10 months in 2019.

Wyman Morgan, Springdale's finance director, said the city has come through the covid-19 pandemic in better financial shape than anticipated in March when local, state and national health emergencies were declared and restrictions placed on public gatherings and other activities to limit the spread of the virus.

"I wasn't expected we'd be up that much," Morgan said. "That's the highest month we've ever had in dollars."

Morgan said he expects the city will set a new record for sales tax revenue for 2020, topping $17 million. The city is budgeting for sales tax revenue of more than $18 million in 2021, Morgan said.

"We're finishing the year in the best financial condition we've been in in the last 20 years," he said.

Casey Wilhelm, finance director for Rogers, said she couldn't point to any factor in the increase other than students returning to school. She said the city will see "at least" a 1% increase for the year compared to 2019 but the city has decided to budget for about $19.9 million in sales tax revenue in 2021, the same amount as this year.

Jake Harper, Bentonville's finance director, said his city regularly sees fluctuating sales tax revenue, due mostly to rebates being requested by businesses under a state program, so the monthly numbers aren't surprising when they are up or when they are down. Harper said for the year the city is up about 4.85% over 2019 and should reach the 2020 budget target of $14.4 million. The city is budgeting about $15.4 million in sales tax revenue for next year.

Washington County Treasurer Bobby Hill said he's surprised that the covid-19 pandemic hasn't adversely affected the county's revenue.

"We'll easily make our budget projection, which was about $8.1 million," Hill said. "Right now, we're $300,000 to $400,000 above our projection."

Brenda Guenther, Benton County comptroller, said the county's sales tax revenue has been "much better than expected." Benton County reduced its budget projection in June from $11.4 million to $10.02 million in anticipation of revenue losses due to the pandemic. Using those adjusted figures, she said, the county is now more than $1.2 million over budget.