According to the May sales tax report from the Oklahoma Tax Commission, sales tax revenue for Bartlesville’s most recent collection was down 2.5 percent percent compared to the same period last year, Chief Financial Officer/Treasurer/City Clerk Jason Muninger said Monday.
The May collection, which reflects sales made primarily in March, was $1,956,060, which is $50,000 less than the May 2023 collection. However, the collection is still “considerably higher” than May collections in years past, Muninger said.
“While the last couple of returns have been down slightly, we are comparing back to some very big numbers,” he said. “Our collections in the post-Covid years have all been substantially higher than pre-Covid years.”
Year to date totals are $21,335,808, which is 2.4 percent, or $490,000 over budget expectations.
“These downturns are why we budget conservatively,” Muninger said. “If we only looked at the data, it would have told us to budget for increased revenue in the upcoming (2024-25 Fiscal Year) budget. No one can predict with any certainty what these revenues are going to do, but by budgeting conservatively we are able to withstand these fluctuations.”
Use tax revenue
Use tax revenue for the period, which reflects online sales primarily in March, was up 0.5 percent, or about $3,200, over the same period last year, with revenues for the period totaling $387,279.
Use tax revenue for the year is expected to reach about $2.5 million over budget by the end of the current fiscal year, which is June 30.
“We expect the use tax to generate about $5 million in revenue over the fiscal year, which is double what we anticipated,” Muninger said. “This is very good news, and an indication of how much money we have lost in previous years, before the use tax was implemented.”
The use tax, which was implemented in January 2023, is sales tax that is applied to online sales.