According to the February sales tax report from the Oklahoma Tax Commission, sales tax collections for Bartlesville were down about 2 percent and use tax revenue was up approximately 3.36 percent compared to the same period last year.
Both sources of revenue for the City continue to exceed budget expectations thanks to conservative budgeting, said Chief Financial Officer/CityClerk/Treasurer Jason Muninger.
“We always budget conservatively, and this year was no exception,” Muninger said. “This allows us to proceed pretty confidently that even when we have a dip in collections, we have everything in place to cover that downturn and continue operations with no disruptions.”
The February sales tax collection was $1,979,225, which is about $43,000 less than the collection for the same period last year, Muninger said.
“Even with that slight decrease, we’re still up a little less than half a percent for the year, or about $55,000, and we’re almost 2 percent, or about $292,000, over budget expectations,” Muninger said. “This is where budgeting conservatively really makes a difference.”
For the fiscal year, which runs July 1 to June 30, sales tax revenue is at a total of $15,869,573, compared to $15,815,053 at the same time last year.
Use tax collections were up 3.36 percent, or $17,000, for the period, Muninger said.
“Use tax collections are a little bit of a mixed bag,” he said. “Collections are up 3.36 percent for the period but down about 3.2 percent, or about $110,000, for the fiscal year. However, budget-wise, use tax revenue is still up 2 percent, or about $60,000 over budget expectations. So we are still in good shape for both sources of revenue.”
Sales and use tax collections lag approximately a month and a half behind.
“We receive a deposit around the eighth or ninth of the month, which is about a month and a half behind (sales), so when we’re looking at the February report, we’re seeing sales that occurred mostly in December of the previous year,” he said.
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.