The recent sales tax report shows October revenues up about 5.4 percent compared to the same period last year, Chief Financial Officer/City Clerk Jason Muninger said this week.
“That is a pretty significant increase, especially when considering October 2021, the period we’re comparing to, was 19.4 percent over the year before,” Muninger said.
“We’re about $102,000 over last year’s collections at this time and just shy of $200,000 over collections year to date,” Muninger said. “That puts us about 2.8 percent up for the fiscal year, and about $530,000 above our anticipated budget.”
Muninger said inflation certainly plays a role in the unprecedented increases in sales tax revenue over the past year and a half, but more people shopping locally has clearly played a part as well.
“While little about the pandemic was ‘good,’ it did contribute to people thinking differently about the way they shop and spend money and, more specifically, where they do so. There is no doubt these increases in sales tax revenue are due largely to local spending.”
The City of Bartlesville, like most Oklahoma municipalities, has seen gains in sales tax revenue for the past 16 months with just one exception, May 2022. Excess funds from the previous fiscal year were carried over into the 2022-23 Fiscal Year budget as a fund balance, which are then used as available funds to balance the 2022-23 operating budget.