City sales tax dollars remain down compared to banner year

For the third straight month, sales tax receipts for the City of Guthrie fell below last year’s numbers, but city officials remain optimistic.

 The City collected $539,076.20 in sales tax revenue for the month of January, which is minus 11.07 percent ($67,106.64) when compared to last January.

For the four months of the current fiscal year (October/November/December/January) the cumulative sales tax revenue is down minus $148,772.12 or minus 6.42 percent as compared to the same first four months of the prior fiscal year.

“While this is not the news we want, it should be noted that the sky is not falling,” City Manager Leroy Alsup said.

The city manager added, “Remember that the sales tax revenue in fiscal year 2018 was a banner year.”

When comparing sales tax revenue for the first four months of fiscal year 2019 ($2,132,095.12) to the first four months of the fiscal year 2017 ($2,003,188.06) is $128,906.06, or 6.44 percent more.

While sales tax dollars are down, the City’s Use Tax dollars remains up.

The January 2019 Use Tax revenue was up $15,606, or 34.36 percent, as compared to Use Tax revenue in January 2018.

For the four months of the current fiscal year (October/November/December/January) the cumulative uses tax revenue is up $59,646.97, or 46.50 percent, as compared to the same first four months of the prior fiscal year.