Sales taxes fall, higher on year

The city of Wimberley’s windfall from sales tax took a sharp downturn this month, but that was to be expected after an exceptional March and April.

The city of Wimberley received $83,245.80 from the Texas Comptroller in May, which represents one percent of sales made in March of 2019 within the city limits.

The check was down around $10,000 from the $93,000 the city received in the same month last year. But, last month the city received a check that included $13,000 in “future period collections,” which means businesses had paid sales taxes ahead of time making this month’s drop rather predictable.

For the fiscal year, which runs from October 2018 through September 2019, the city of Wimberley is up on sales tax collections. Through the eight months, the city has collected $630,986, which up more than $30,000 from the same months last year. That represents almost a five percent increase from last year.

The city of Woodcreek has seen an even bigger jump in 2019, although Woodcreek does not rely heavily on sales tax allocations compared to the city of Wimberley. Woodcreek received $5,500.62 during the month of May, which is up 17 percent from the same month last year. In 2019, the city of Woodcreek has received $21,532.13, which is up 17.66 percent compared to the same months last year.

The Wimberley Village Library, which collects half a percent of sales tax within the Wimberley Independent School District, saw similar returns to the city of Wimberley. The library received $56,121.79 in the month of May from sales tax allocations, which is down nearly $5,000 from the same month last year. However, the library also received a windfall last month from “future period collections” to the tune of about $7,800. While the library’s sales tax collections were down almost eight percent this month compared to the same month last year, it is up in 2019 nearly 16 percent. The library has collected $282,771.76 from sales taxes in 2019.

Overall, the cities in Hays County had a rough month of sales tax allocations with most lagging behind last year’s monthly allocations. The largest percentage increase was Niederwald, which had a 17.6 percent increase in sales tax allocations. The largest monetary increase was the city of Buda, which saw a check $30,000 greater than the same month last year, but that only represented a five percent increase for the city.