According to the April sales tax report from the Oklahoma Tax Commission, sales and use tax collections for Bartlesville were both down compared to the same period last year.
Sales tax revenue was $1,855,906 which is down 1.95 percent, or $37,000, compared to the same time period in April of last year. Year to date collections are still up, however, at .24 percent or $47,000.
“For the year we are over budgetary expectation by $311,000 or 1.63,” said Chief Financial Officer/City Clerk/Treasurer Jason Muninger.
Use tax was $342,366, down 4.295 percent, or $13,000, compared to the same time period in April of last year.
“Year to date we are down .5 percent, or $21,000,” Muninger said. “For the year we are over budgetary expectation by $228,000, or 5.95 percent.”
Sales and use tax collections lag approximately a month and a half behind. Most sales (78 percent) and all use tax revenue go into the General Fund, which provides funding for most operations of the City of Bartlesville, of which police and fire are the largest.
“A lot of people think City operations are funded by property tax, but that is not the case,” Muninger said. “Municipalities in Oklahoma can only use property tax for debt service, so the only property tax we utilize is based on General Obligation bonds. Additionally, our utility services are self contained, meaning those departments are operated based on the rates and fees collected by each utility. So sales tax, which includes use tax, is used to fund everything else.
For more information about the City’s budgets, see www.cityofbartlesville.org.